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G—PHYSICS

G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING; COUNTING

G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING

G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements

G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer

G06F17/30017—Multimedia data retrieval; Retrieval of more than one type of audiovisual media

G—PHYSICS

G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING; COUNTING

G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING

G06F3/00—Input arrangements for transferring data to be processed into a form capable of being handled by the computer; Output arrangements for transferring data from processing unit to output unit, e.g. interface arrangements

G06F3/01—Input arrangements or combined input and output arrangements for interaction between user and computer

G06F3/0484—Interaction techniques based on graphical user interfaces [GUI] for the control of specific functions or operations, e.g. selecting or manipulating an object or an image, setting a parameter value or selecting a range

H04N21/26258—Content or additional data distribution scheduling, e.g. sending additional data at off-peak times, updating software modules, calculating the carousel transmission frequency, delaying a video stream transmission, generating play-lists for generating a list of items to be played back in a given order, e.g. playlist, or scheduling item distribution according to such list

Abstract

Systems and method are provided for providing a playlist transport bar. The playlist transport bar provides an overlay which graphically represents assets (e.g., programs) of a playlist in a manner that enables a user to simultaneously ascertain a playback position within the playlist and a particular asset. The playlist transport may include asset regions which each correspond to an asset in a playlist and a position indication region which may provide information relating to a playback position.

Description

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Nos. 60/667,870 and 60/658,270, filed Apr. 1, 2005 and Mar. 2, 2005, respectively, the disclosures of which are hereby incorporated herein in their entireties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed towards systems and methods for providing playlists and bookmarks in interactive media guidance application systems.

Playlists are known and may be used to determine the order in which assets (e.g., television programs, songs, etc.) are played. As defined herein, an asset refers to any type of media that may be played. Such media may include all the variants of television media, music media, interactive games, and other audio and/or video media. Assets may be added to a playlist, deleted from a playlist, or rearranged in a playlist. Various user interfaces are provided to enable a user to make such modifications to playlists.

Playlists may include several assets of similar or different media types ranging, for example, from two to several hundreds or thousands of assets. Thus, when the playtime of each asset is totaled, a substantial amount of time may be required to playback the entire playlist. Since playlists may include several assets, a user may wish to be provided with information related to the playback of assets in a particular playlist. For example, a user may be interested in knowing how much time has elapsed during playback of a playlist or an asset, or how much time is remaining in the playlist or the asset. Known systems may be able to provide information as to how much time has elapsed and give an indication as to how much time remains for a given asset, but these systems are limited to providing such information for only that one given asset and are further unable to simultaneously provide information that gives a user a sense of position within a playlist. Moreover, some of these systems require a full screen display to display such information, thereby preventing a user from simultaneously viewing programming and information related to a playlist.

Accordingly, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for providing information in a manner that enables a user to easily ascertain a playback position within a playlist and a particular asset.

It is also desirable to provide systems and methods for playlist and bookmark related features.

It is further desirable to provide systems and method for providing VOD program information screens that provide access to playlist and bookmark features.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, systems and methods are provided for providing a playlist transport bar. The playlist transport bar provides an overlay which graphically represents assets of a playlist in a manner that enables a user to simultaneously ascertain a playback position within the playlist and a particular asset. As defined herein, a playback position is the position corresponding to a particular position in the playlist, including a particular asset, being accessed (e.g., played, paused, rewinded, fast-forwarded, skipped to the beginning of next asset, etc.). For example, if a program is paused at the half-way point of an asset (e.g., a VOD program), the playback position is at the half-way point of that asset. As another example, if the user is viewing the third hour of five hours of total programming for a playlist, the playback position is at the three-hour elapsed time position for all programming in the playlist (even though the playlist position may also be at, for example, a twenty minute elapsed time position for a currently playing asset).

The playlist transport bar may include several asset regions each corresponding to an asset in the playlist and a position indication region that provides an indication of the playback position. The manner in which asset regions are displayed may vary, depending on a number of factors. In one embodiment, an asset region for each asset in the playlist may be displayed in the playlist transport bar. In this approach, the interactive media guidance application may appropriately size each asset region to fit within the playlist transport bar. The interactive media application may apportion each asset region to be the same size, regardless of the playback time for the assets. Alternatively, the interactive media application may apportion a size to each asset region based on its playback time relative to the playback times of other assets in the playlist, while taking into account the limited display space provided in the playlist transport bar. For example, a two-hour long asset may be apportioned a larger size than a half-hour long asset.

In another embodiment, the playlist transport bar may display a limited number of asset regions so as to not saturate the playlist transport bar with asset regions corresponding to all the potential assets of a playlist. By limiting the number of asset regions displayed in the playlist transport bar at any given time, this allows the interactive media guidance application to appropriate a predetermined minimum amount of space to each displayed region. The spacing allotted to each region may accurately reflect the length of a particular asset with respect to the other shown assets. For example, a two-hour program may be presented in an asset region that is two times larger than an hour long program. In addition, in this embodiment, information may be provided that provides an indication of the playback position within the playlist.

The position indication region may serve as a visual indicator that moves along the transport bar and provides information relating to a playback position within the playlist and/or a particular asset. The position indication region may include a position needle and an information region. The position needle may provide a visual indication of a playback position within the playlist and/or a particular asset. For example, in one embodiment, the position needle may indicate both the playback position within a particular asset and the playlist. In another embodiment, the position needle may only indicate the position within an asset. In this latter embodiment, the information region may provide information relating to the playback position within the playlist. The information region may display other information such as the elapsed time of the currently accessed asset, which action (e.g., pausing, fast-forwarding, resuming play, etc.) the user is implementing, or any other information relating to the playback of assets in a playlist.

In one embodiment, the user may “drag and drop” the position indication region to a desired location using, for example, cursor arrows of a remote device. This allows a user to manually position the position indication region at any playback position on the transport bar, thereby providing a user with the ability to resume playback of any asset in the playlist at a particular playback position. In another embodiment, the interactive media guidance application may permit a user to “skip to the next” asset region. This may permit a user to skip to the beginning of an adjacent asset region.

The playlist transport bar may allow a user to navigate a highlight region to various elements within the transport bar, and, if desired, select the highlighted regions. For example, a user may navigate a highlight region to the asset regions, the position indication region, and other areas of the transport bar such as a playlist name region. Additional information or menus may be displayed depending on which elements of the transport bar are highlighted or selected.

The playlist transport bar may allow a user to modify (e.g., delete an asset) the playlist without requiring the user to access interactive media guidance application features specifically dedicated to allowing a user to modify a playlist. In addition, the playlist transport bar may allow a user to switch to another playlist, thereby enabling the user to playback assets of a different playlist.

In other embodiments, systems and methods are provided for playlist and bookmark related features. In addition, systems and method are also provided for providing VOD program information screens that provide access to playlist and bookmark features.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features of the present invention, its nature and various advantages will be more apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an illustrative interactive media guidance system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative VOD menu with a “My Playlists” option for providing a user with access to playlist features in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative no playlists set overlay that may be displayed when the user selects the My Playlist option from the VOD menu of FIG. 2 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative screen that may be displayed when the user selects a Set up Playlist button on the No Playlist Set Overlay of FIG. 3 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative playlists list in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative playlist with programs screen showing a highlighted program in accordance with embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative playlist with programs screen showing an option for allowing a user to change the order the programs in the playlist in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative playlist with programs screen showing a highlight region that can be navigated to a checkbox in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative playlist with programs screen showing that a checkbox of FIG. 8 can be selected to indicate that the program associated with the selected checkbox is to be deleted from the playlist in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative keyboard overlay in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative overlay that allows a user to select a playlist from a list of playlists in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 12 shows an illustrative overlay informing a user that additional playlists cannot be created in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative overlay informing a user that additional programs cannot be added to a playlist in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative overlay indicating that a program has been successfully added to a playlist in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 15 shows an illustrative overlay providing a user with various deletion options in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 16 shows an illustrative overlay confirming deletion of a playlist in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 17 shows an illustrative overlay that may be displayed when a user selects a lock action icon in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 18 shows an illustrative search screen that may be provided when a user selects a search action icon in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 19 shows an alternative search screen that may be provided when a user selects a search action icon in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 20 shows an illustrative clear all programs confirmation overlay that may be displayed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 21 shows an illustrative bookmark a VOD program confirmation display in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 22 shows an illustrative previously bookmarked confirmation overlay that may be displayed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 23 shows an illustrative saved programs listing screen in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 24 shows an alternative illustrative saved programs listings screen in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 25 shows an illustrative delete video confirmation overlay in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 26 shows an illustrative transport bar for playing back programs in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 27 shows an alternative illustrative transport bar for playing back programs in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 28 shows an illustrative playlist transport bar that displays a region for each asset in the playlist in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 29 shows an illustrative playlist transport bar in which the number of regions displayed are limited in number in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 30 shows an example of the playlist transport bar of FIG. 29 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 31 shows a playlist transport toolbar that may be displayed when the user is implementing a command that affects playback of an asset in the playlist in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIGS. 32, 33, 34A-B, 35A-B, and 36 show several illustrative playlist transport bars in which a user may navigate a highlight region within the playlist transport bar, and, if desired, cause a particular action to occur in accordance with embodiments of the invention;

FIG. 37 shows a flowchart of illustrative steps in displaying a playlist transport bar in accordance with an embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 38 shows an illustrative VOD program information screen that may be displayed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 39 shows an alternative illustrative VOD program information screen that may be displayed in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This document is divided into five major Sections. Section I describes an illustrative system architecture for an interactive media guidance application system in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. Section II describes playlist-related features in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. Section III describes bookmark-related features in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. Section IV describes an illustrative transport bar for playback of programs from playlists in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention. Section V describes illustrative VOD program information screens for providing access to playlist and bookmark features in accordance with various embodiments of the present invention.

Section I. Illustrative System Architecture

An illustrative interactive media system in accordance with the principles of the invention is shown in FIG. 1. User equipment 10 receives content in the form of signals from media source 20 over communications path 22.

Media source 20 may be any suitable content source such as, for example, a cable system headend, satellite television distribution facility, television broadcast facility, or any other suitable facility for originating or distributing content. Media source 20 may be configured to transmit signals over any suitable communications path 22 including, for example, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, or any other suitable wired or wireless path. The signals may carry any suitable content such as, for example, television programs, internet, music, news, television program listings, or any other suitable media.

VOD server 26 provides on-demand programs and associated VOD program data (e.g., VOD titles, VOD descriptions, VOD prices (if applicable), VOD viewing window data and other VOD metadata). VOD server 26 stores the VOD program data in, and retrieves the data from, database 28. As discussed below, VOD server 26 may also, in some embodiments, store playlists and saved program lists for users of user equipment 10 in database 28. VOD server 26 exchanges messages and media with user equipment 10 over communications path 22, but in other embodiments communications may be exchanged over a separate path (not shown). VOD server 26 may reside, for example, in a cable system headend. If desired, VOD server may also be a media source.

User equipment 10 may include any suitable equipment including, for example, computer equipment (e.g., a personal computer with a television card (PCTV)), television equipment, or any other suitable equipment. The television equipment may include a television, set-top box, recording device, video player, user input device (e.g., remote control, keyboard, mouse, touch pad, touch screen, voice recognition interface, etc.) or any other device suitable for providing an interactive television experience having features described in the various embodiments below. In the example of FIG. 1, user equipment 10 includes at least control circuitry 18, display device 12 and recording device 14, and user input device 16, which may be implemented as separate devices or as a single device. An interactive media guidance application may be implemented on the user equipment to display, on display device 12, the content transmitted by media source 20 over path 22, and to provide interactive media guidance application features. The interactive media guidance application may also provide users with access to VOD content and VOD data from VOD server 26.

Recording device 14 may be any of a personal video recorder, digital video recorder (DVR), video cassette recorder (VCR), DVD-recorder, or any other suitable video recorder. Recording device 14 may include one or more tuners. Recording device 14 may record programs under the control of the interactive media guidance application that resides on user equipment 10.

Display device 140 may be any suitable device including, for example, a television monitor and a computer monitor. Display device 140 may also be configured to provide for the output of audio.

The user equipment may include control circuitry 18 adapted to receive user instructions and execute the operations of an interactive media guidance application, such as an interactive program guide application. Control circuitry 18 may include one or more tuners (e.g., analog or digital tuners), decoders (e.g., MPEG decoders) processors, memory (e.g., RAM and hard disks), communications circuitry (e.g., cable modem circuitry for two-way communications with VOD server 26), input/output circuitry (e.g., graphics circuitry), and connections to the various devices of user equipment 10, and any other suitable component for providing analog or digital television programming, program recording, and interactive media guidance features. Control circuitry 18 may be configured to execute the instructions of the interactive media guidance application from memory. In one embodiment, control circuitry 18 may be included as part of one of the devices of user equipment 10 such as, for example, part of recording device 14, display 12, or any other device (e.g., a set-top box, television, video player, etc.).

User equipment 10 may receive interactive media guidance application data from one or more data sources 24. The number of data sources 24 may depend on the number of interactive media guidance applications. For example, one data source 24 may provide interactive media guidance data for non-on-demand assets (e.g., non-pay and pay-per-view television programs), and another may provide data for home shopping application data. In some embodiments VOD data (e.g., VOD programs) and program guide data may be provided to user equipment 10 by a data source 24. In such embodiments VOD server 26 may still provide VOD content.

In some embodiments, data sources 24 may provide data to the interactive media guidance application using a suitable client/server approach. There may be one server per data source or, in some embodiments, a single server may communicate as a proxy between user equipment 10 and various data sources 24.

The playlist and bookmark features described below are described as provided in embodiments where user equipment 10 provides an interactive media guidance application such as interactive television program guide. In such embodiments, user equipment 10 may include a Motorola DCT series settop box. Program guide instructions are executed by control circuitry 18 (FIG. 1). Program guide data is received from a data source 24 and stored by control circuitry 18. Control circuitry 18 executes program guide instructions and retrieves program guide data from memory when displaying program guide screens on display device 12. The displays may be provided in response to user instructions received by an input device 16, such as a remote control.

In these embodiments, the program guide may be programmed with extensions for communicating with a vendor-specific VOD server 26. The program guide extensions may call VOD-vendor-specific objects that may contain vendor-specific code for requesting VOD data from a VOD server 26, and for accessing content from VOD server 26. VOD server 26 may store data for some features provided by the interactive media guidance application such as, for example, playlist and saved program list data.

For purposes of clarity, the following discussion may sometimes describe an embodiment in which the interactive media guidance application is an interactive television program guide or interactive television application. It will be understood, however, that the following discussion and the features discussed may be applied to any interactive media guidance application such as, for example, an online program guide or a Website.

Section II. Playlists

Some embodiments of the present invention provide features for creating and managing playlists. Playlists are lists of programs that an interactive television application will play back sequentially for the user. Users may select one or more programs for inclusion in a playlist. After creating a playlist, the user can select the playlist for playback. Each program in the playlist is played back for the user, one after another in time. In some embodiments, real-time features such as pause, stop, fast-forward and rewind may be provided to allow the user to control playback of programs in the playlist. In some embodiments, the interactive application may recommend programs for inclusion in a playlist, or provide pre-made playlists.

An illustrative set of playlist features in an embodiment where users create and manage playlists of free VOD programs using an interactive television program guide (IPG) is described below. This is only illustrative, as such features may be incorporated in embodiments in which playlists include other types of programs (e.g., recorded programs (such as programs recorded on recording device 14 of FIG. 1), and non-free on-demand programs), and in which the interactive television application is not an IPG.

FIG. 2 below shows an illustrative VOD menu with a “My Playlists” option for providing a user with access to playlist features. In other embodiments, users may access playlist features from other menus or displays, such as an IPG main menu or VOD program information screen (see Section V below) for example. In this layout, the VOD menu includes a barker window for video clips.

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative No Playlists Set Overlay that may be displayed when the user selects My Playlists from the VOD Main Menu of FIG. 2, or other IPG menus or screens, and no playlists have been created. Tables 1 and 2 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 1

Illustrative No Playlists Set Overlay System Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the No Playlists Set Overlay when the user selects

My Playlists from the VOD Main Menu or other menus or screens provided

by the Guide and no playlists have been created.

1.1

The Guide may display the title “NO PLAYLISTS SET” on the No

Playlists Set Overlay in the language specified by the user in the Guide

setup, in yellow text.

1.2

The Guide may display the prompt “Would you like to set up a playlist

now?” on the No Playlists Set Overlay in the language specified by the user

in Guide setup, in white text.

1.3

The Guide may display the OK/Yes icon on the No Playlists Set Overlay

with the label “Set up Playlist” in the language specified by the user in the

Guide setup, in white text.

1.4

The Guide may display the Cancel icon on the No Playlists Set Overlay

with the label “Don't set up Playlist” in the language specified by the user

in the Guide setup, in white text.

2.0

The default highlight may be the OK/Yes icon.

3.0

Except as specified in this section, this confirmation screen may follow the

description provided in the Common Confirmation Overlay section in the Appendix.

4.0

New “default” playlists may be named automatically according to the

following format: “Playlist <lowest positive integer not already used to

name a playlist>”.

TABLE 2

Illustrative No Playlists Set Overlay Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Set up

Always

Creates a new, empty playlist and

Playlist

present

displays the Default Playlist Screen

2.0

Don't set up

Always

for the new playlist.

Playlist

present

Dismisses the No Playlists Set Overlay.

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative screen that may be displayed when the user selects the Set up Playlist button on the No Playlists Set Overlay, selects the Add Icon on the Playlists List, or accesses an existing playlist that contains no programs. The Default Playlist screen shows default information for a playlist when it is empty. Tables 3-9 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such a screen.

TABLE 3

Illustrative Default Playlist Screen Instant Information

No.

Line

Format

Description

1.0

1

Left

The default playlist name, in the form “Playlist

Justified

<lowest positive integer not already used to

name a playlist>”, displayed in yellow

1.1

1

Right

The text “Contains 0 programs” in the

Justified

language specified by the user at Guide setup,

displayed in white

2.0

2

Left

The text “0 min” in the language specified by

Justified

the user at Guide setup, displayed in white

3.0

3

Left

The text “Select below to name, delete, and

Justified

lock your Playlist.” in the language specified

by the user at Guide setup, displayed in white

TABLE 4

Illustrative Default Playlist Screen Reader Box Display

No.

Line

Format

Description

1.0

1

Left

The text “To add programs to this Playlist:” in

Justified

the language specified by the viewer in Guide

setup, displayed in yellow

2.0

2

Blank

3.0

3

Left

The text “1) Find a program you would like to

Justified

add.” in the language specified by the viewer

in Guide setup, displayed in white

4.0

4

Left

The text “2) Go to the information screen and

Justified

select <Playlist Icon>.” in the language

specified by the viewer in Guide setup,

displayed in white

5.0

5

Left

The text “3) Select the Playlist to add the

Justified

program to.” in the language specified by the

viewer in Guide setup, displayed in white

6.0

6

Blank

7.0

7

Left

The text “Also select <Search Icon> below to

Justified

search for programs to add.” in the language

specified by the user at Guide setup, displayed

in white

TABLE 5

Illustrative Default Playlist Screen Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Last

Always present

Displays the previous screen

2.0

Keyboard

Always present

Displays the Playlist Keyboard

Overlay

3.0

Search

Always present

Displays the Playlist Search Screen.

4.0

Lock

Always present

Displays the Lock Playlist Overlay

5.0

Delete

Always present

Displays the Delete Playlist

Confirmation Overlay

TABLE 6

Illustrative Default Playlist Screen Input Key Processing

No.

Key

Screen Focus

Behavior

1.0

Power

Any

Normal

2.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Up

3.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Down

4.0

Mute

Any

Normal

5.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Up

6.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Down

7.0

Bypass

Any

Normal

8.0

Menu

Any

Normal

9.0

Guide

Any

Normal

10.0

Music

Any

Normal

11.0

Themes

Any

Normal

12.0

Search

Any

Normal

13.0

Settings

Any

Normal

14.0

Exit

Any

Normal

15.0

Last

Any

Normal

16.0

Right

Any action icon

Normal

Arrow

but farthest right

16.1

Right

Farthest right

The Guide may move the

Arrow

action icon

highlight to the

farthest left action icon.

17.0

Left

Any action icon

Normal

Arrow

but farthest left

17.1

Left

Farthest left

The Guide may move the

Arrow

action icon

highlight to the

farthest right action icon.

18.0

Up Arrow

Any

Inactive

19.0

Down

Any

Inactive

Arrow

20.0

OK

Any

See Table 5

21.0

Digits 0-9

Any

Normal

22.0

Scroll Up

Any

Inactive

23.0

Scroll

Any

Inactive

Down

24.0

Day

Any

Inactive

Forward

25.0

Day Back

Any

Inactive

26.0

Help

Any

Inactive

27.0

Info

Any

Inactive

28.0

Favorite

Any

Inactive

29.0

Lock

Any

Displays the Lock Playlist

Overlay

30.0

Record

Any

Inactive

31.0

Stop

Any

Inactive

32.0

Pause

Any

Inactive

33.0

Play

Any

Inactive

34.0

Rewind

Any

Inactive

35.0

Fast

Any

Inactive

Forward

36.0

PPV

Any

Normal

37.0

Letters A-Z

Any

Inactive

38.0

VOD

Any

Inactive

39.0

Return to

Any

Inactive

Live TV

40.0

Skip

Any

Inactive

Forward

41.0

Replay

Any

Inactive

42.0

A

Any

Inactive

43.0

B

Any

Inactive

44.0

C

Any

Inactive

45.0

Digital

Any

Normal

Recordings

46.0

Swap

Any

Inactive

TABLE 7

Illustrative Default Playlist Screen Other Event Handling

No.

Event

Conditions/Comments

1.0

Screen Timeout

Normal

2.0

Reminder

Normal

3.0

Scheduled Recording Fires

Normal

4.0

Ordered PPV Start

Normal

5.0

PPV Purchase Window

Inactive

Expires

6.0

Current Program Ends

Normal

7.0

Data added, deleted or

Normal

modified in database

TABLE 8

Illustrative Default Playlist Screen Screen/Mode Entry

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Guide

The Default Playlist Screen may

Initialization

be available as soon as

the VOD feature is available.

2.0

Highlight

The default highlight may be the Last

icon on the Action Icon Bar

3.0

Display Inclusion

Not applicable

Criteria

4.0

Sorting/Grouping

Not applicable

Criteria

5.0

Customization

The OnDemand icon may be

MSO-configurable.

6.0

Other Entry

Not applicable

Actions

TABLE 9

Illustrative Default Playlist Screen Formatting

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Program Title

Not applicable

2.0

Time

Normal

3.0

Channel

Not applicable

4.0

Other Text

Not Applicable

5.0

Colors

Normal

6.0

Indicators

Not applicable

7.0

Branding

Not Applicable

8.0

Audio

Normal

9.0

LEDs

Normal

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative playlists list. The Playlists List displays the user's current playlists. It is displayed when the user selects My Playlists from the VOD Main Menu or other menus or screens, and one or more playlists have already been created. Playlists can be added and accessed from this screen. Tables 10-17 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such a screen.

TABLE 10

Illustrative Playlists List Screen System Description

No.

Description

1.0

VOD server 26 may maintain a list of playlists for each distinct subscriber

household.

1.1

The list of playlists may be ordered according to the date and time of

playlist creation, beginning with the most recently created playlist.

2.0

When the Guide requests the list of playlists, and if more than one playlist

has been created, VOD server 26 may provide the list of playlists to the

Guide.

2.1

VOD server 26 will page up or down within the Playlist List screen to

allow viewing additional playlist list pages.

3.0

VOD server 26 may maintain at least the following metadata for each

playlist in the playlist list:

Playlist name

Number of programs in playlist

Total duration of playlist

4.0

VOD server 26 may add a new playlist in response to requests from the Guide to

add a new playlist.

4.1

VOD server 26 may allow the creation of up to, e.g., 24 playlists per STB.

4.2

VOD server 26 may communicate an error to the Guide if a request is made

to add a new playlist, and the maximum number of playlists has been reached

for the STB.

5.0

VOD server 26 may provide an existing playlist in response to requests

from the Guide to access an existing playlist.

6.0

VOD server 26 may maintain and transfer playlist specifications across

STB replacements.

TABLE 11

Illustrative Playlists List General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Playlists List may display the Playlists icon, followed by the

title “My Playlists” in the language specified by the user at

Guide setup, centered in white text in the screen header area.

2.0

The maximum number of playlists that can be created may be,

e.g., 24.

TABLE 12

Illustrative Playlists List Instant Information

No.

Line

Format

Description

1.0

1

Left

The name of the highlighted playlist if there

Justified

are existing playlists when the screen is

invoked, displayed in yellow

1.1

1

Right

The text “Contains <number> Programs” in

Justified

the language specified by the user at Guide

setup, displayed in white, if there are existing

playlists when the screen is invoked, where

<number> is the number of videos in the

highlighted playlist

1.2

1

Left

The text “No Playlists have been created” in

Justified

the language specified by the user at Guide

setup, displayed in yellow, if no playlists

currently exist when the screen is invoked

1.3

1

Blank if there are existing playlists when the

screen is invoked and no playlist is highlighted

2.0

2

Left

Runtime of the highlighted playlist (total

Justified

runtime of all programs in the playlist) if there

are existing playlists when the screen is

invoked

2.1

2

Blank if no playlists currently exist when the

screen is invoked or no playlist is highlighted

3.0

3

The text “Select <Add Action Icon> below to

create a new Playlist.” in the language

specified by the user at Guide setup, displayed

in white

TABLE 13

Illustrative Playlists List Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Last

Always present

Displays the previous screen

2.0

VOD

Always present

Displays the VOD Main Menu

3.0

Down

Always present

Displays the next page of playlist

Arrow

listings

3.1

Down

Always present

Inactive if no additional pages are

Arrow

available below the current page of

playlists.

4.0

New

Always present

Displays the Default Playlist screen if

Playlist

the maximum number of playlists has

not been reached

4.1

New

Always present

Displays the Maximum Playlists Notice

Playlist

if the maximum number of playlists

has been reached

TABLE 14

Illustrative Playlists List Input Key Processing

No.

Key

Screen Focus

Behavior

1.0

Power

Any

Normal

2.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Up

3.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Down

4.0

Mute

Any

Normal

5.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Up

6.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Down

7.0

Bypass

Any

Normal

8.0

Menu

Any

Normal

9.0

Guide

Any

Normal

10.0

Music

Any

Normal

11.0

Themes

Any

Normal

12.0

Search

Any

Normal

13.0

Settings

Any

Normal

14.0

Exit

Any

The Guide may return to Idle Mode and

display and Flip Banner.

15.0

Last

Any

Normal

16.0

Right

List Cell

Inactive

Arrow

16.1

Right

Any action icon

Normal

Arrow

but farthest

right

16.2

Right

Farthest right

The Guide may move the highlight to the

Arrow

action icon

farthest left action icon.

17.0

Left

List Cell

Inactive

Arrow

17.1

Left

Any action icon

Normal

Arrow

but farthest left

17.2

Left

Farthest left

The Guide may move the highlight to the

Arrow

action icon

farthest right action icon.

18.0

Up Arrow

Top list cell on

Inactive

first page

18.1

Up Arrow

Top list cell,

The Guide may display the previous page and

any but first

highlight the lowest selectable list cell.

page

18.2

Up Arrow

Any list cell but

The Guide may move the highlight to the next

the top on the

higher list cell.

page

18.3

Up Arrow

Any Action

The Guide may move the highlight to the

Icon

lowest list cell on the current page.

19.0

Down

Any list cell but

The Guide may move the highlight to the next

Arrow

the last on the

lower list cell on the page.

page

19.1

Down

Last list cell on

The Guide may move the highlight to the

Arrow

the page

default action icon.

19.2

Down

Any Action

Inactive

Arrow

Icon except

Down Arrow

19.3

Down

Down Arrow

The Guide may display the next page and

Arrow

action icon, any

highlight the highest selectable list cell.

page but the

last

19.4

Down

Down Arrow

Inactive

Arrow

action icon, last

page

20.0

OK

Any list cell

If the highlighted playlist contains at least one

program, is not locked and does not contain

any programs that are locked, the Guide may

request data for the highlighted playlist from

VOD server 26 and display the Playlist

Information Screen.

20.1

OK

Any list cell

If the highlighted playlist contains at least one

program, and is locked or contains any

programs that are locked, the Guide may

display the Lock PIN Overlay.

20.2

OK

Any list cell

If the highlighted playlist does not contain any

programs, the Guide may request data for the

highlighted playlist from VOD server 26 and

display the Default Playlist screen.

20.3

OK

Any action icon

See Table 13.

21.0

Digits 0-9

Any

Normal

22.0

Scroll Up

Any

Normal

23.0

Scroll

Any

Normal

Down

24.0

Day

Any

Inactive

Forward

25.0

Day Back

Any

Inactive

26.0

Help

Any

Inactive

27.0

Info

Any list cell

If the highlighted playlist contains at least one

program, is not locked and does not contain

any programs that are locked, the Guide may

request data for the highlighted playlist from

VOD server 26 and display the Playlist

Information Screen.

27.1

Info

Any list cell

If the highlighted playlist contains at least one

program, and is locked or contains any

programs that are locked, the Guide may

display the Lock PIN Overlay.

27.2

Info

Any list cell

If the highlighted playlist does not contain any

programs, the Guide may request data for the

highlighted playlist from VOD server 26 and

displays the Default Playlist screen.

27.3

Info

Any action icon

Inactive

28.0

Favorite

Any

Inactive

29.0

Lock

Any

Inactive

30.0

Record

Any

Inactive

31.0

Stop

Any

Inactive

32.0

Pause

Any

Inactive

33.0

Play

Any

Inactive

34.0

Rewind

Any

Inactive

35.0

Fast

Any

Inactive

Forward

36.0

PPV

Any

Normal

37.0

Letters A-Z

Any

Inactive

38.0

VOD

Any

Inactive

39.0

Return to

Any

Normal

Live TV

40.0

Skip

Any

Inactive

Forward

41.0

Replay

Any

Inactive

42.0

A

Any

Inactive

43.0

B

Any

Inactive

44.0

C

Any

Inactive

45.0

DVR

Any

Normal

46.0

Swap

Any

Inactive

TABLE 15

Illustrative Playlists List Other Event Handling

No.

Event

Conditions/Comments

1.0

Screen Timeout

Normal

2.0

Reminder

Normal

3.0

Scheduled Recording Fires

Normal

4.0

Ordered PPV Start

Normal

5.0

PPV Purchase Window

Inactive

Expires

6.0

Current Program Ends

Normal

TABLE 16

Illustrative Playlists List Screen/Mode Entry

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Guide

The Playlists List Screen may be available as

Initialization

soon as the VOD feature is available.

2.0

Highlight

If there are existing playlists, the default

highlight may be the first playlist on the page.

2.1

Highlight

If there are no existing playlists, the default

highlight may be the Add Action Icon.

2.2

Highlight

If the user navigates from a list cell to the

action icons, the default action icon may be

the Down Arrow Action Icon.

3.0

Display Inclusion

Display all existing playlists.

Criteria

4.0

Sorting/Grouping

The playlists may be displayed in order of

Criteria

creation time, from newest to oldest.

5.0

Customization

The OnDemand icon may be MSO-

configurable.

TABLE 17

Illustrative Playlists List Screen Formatting

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Program Title

Not applicable

2.0

Time

Normal

3.0

Channel

Not applicable

4.0

Other Text

Not applicable

5.0

Colors

Normal

6.0

Indicators

Not applicable

7.0

Branding

Not applicable

8.0

Audio

Normal

9.0

LEDs

The Guide may display the last user channel

or current time on the LED according to the

description provided in the Appendix for

time/channel display on the LED.

FIGS. 6-9 show illustrative Playlist with Programs Screens that may be displayed when the user selects a playlist from the Playlist List and the playlist contains one or more programs, or when the user selects the Add action icon on the Select a Playlist overlay. Tables 18-25 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such screens.

TABLE 18

Illustrative Playlist with Programs Screen

System Description

No.

Description

1.0

VOD server 26 may maintain the playlists contents for each playlist stored for

a STB.

1.1

Playlist contents may only include VOD programs that are free for all users without

any subscription or purchase.

1.2

VOD server 26 may maintain the sequence of VOD programs within a VOD

playlist.

2.0

VOD server 26 may include up to, e.g., 24 distinct VOD assets within a

The guide may provide an on screen Playlist Keyboard overlay for naming

distinct VOD playlists.

1.1

The Playlist Keyboard overlay may include a keyboard component and a

string entry field.

2.0

The keyboard component may facilitate entry of all capital letters of the

English alphabet, digits 0-9 and the space character within the string entry field.

2.1

The string entry field may allow the user to see characters in the character

string as they are entered.

2.1.1

Entry of characters may be sequential from left to right.

2.1.2

The character entry position may be maintained after the rightmost

character in the string entry field.

2.1.3

The character entry position may be represented by a character entry cursor.

2.2

The keyboard component may facilitate deletion of the rightmost character

in the string entry field via the Delete/Backspace selectable item.

2.3

The keyboard component may allow entry of up to, e.g., 25 characters

within the string entry field.

2.3.1

If the number of characters, together with the character entry cursor,

exceeds the display capacity of the string entry field, one or more leftmost

characters may be shifted beyond the left edge of the string entry field, as

required to maintain the character entry cursor within the right edge of the

string entry field.

2.3.2

If any characters remain shifted beyond the left edge of the string entry

field, and the user deletes the rightmost character using the

Delete/Backspace key, one or more first characters may be shifted back

into the string entry field display, provided the character entry cursor may

maintain its position within the right edge of the string entry field.

2.3.3

If no characters remain shifted beyond the left edge of the string entry

field, and the user deletes the rightmost character using the

Delete/Backspace key, the characters may remain fixed within the string

entry field, and the character entry cursor may move to the left.

3.0

The space character option in the keyboard component may include the

text “Sp” in white text.

4.0

The delete/backspace option in the keyboard component may include the

text “Del” in white text.

5.0

The save option in the keyboard component may include the text “Save” in

white text.

5.1

The “Save” selectable item may be grayed out if no non-space characters

have been entered in the string entry field.

6.0

The default highlight on entry may be the “A” character in the keyboard

component.

7.0

The string entry field may be empty on entry.

TABLE 27

Illustrative Playlist Keyboard Overlay

Input Key Processing

No.

Key

Screen Focus

Behavior

1.0

Power

Any

Normal

2.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Up

3.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Down

4.0

Mute

Any

Normal

5.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Up

6.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Down

7.0

Bypass

Any

Normal

8.0

Menu

Any

Normal

9.0

Guide

Any

Normal

10.0

Music

Any

Normal

11.0

Themes

Any

Normal

12.0

Search

Any

Normal

13.0

Settings

Any

Inactive

14.0

Exit

Any

Normal

15.0

Last

Any

The Guide may dismiss the Playlist

Keyboard overlay and redisplay the screen it

was accessed from.

16.0

Right

Anywhere in

Move the highlight to the next key to the

Arrow

keyboard

right in the keyboard component.

component

except rightmost

keys.

16.1

Right

Rightmost keys

Inactive

Arrow

in keyboard

component, or

string entry field

17.0

Left Arrow

Anywhere in

Move the highlight to the next key to the left

keyboard

in the keyboard component.

component

except leftmost

keys.

17.1

Left Arrow

Leftmost keys in

Inactive

keyboard

component, or

string entry field.

18.0

Up Arrow

Alphanumeric

Move the highlight to the next higher key in

keys in keyboard

the keyboard component.

component, not

including top

row.

18.1

Up Arrow

“A” or “B” key

Move highlight to the “Delete” option.

in keyboard

component.

18.2

Up Arrow

“C” or “D” key

Move highlight to the “Spacebar” option.

in keyboard

component.

18.3

Up Arrow

“E” or “F” key

Move highlight to the “Save” option.

in keyboard

component.

18.4

Up Arrow

Delete, Space or

Move the highlight to the string entry field.

Save option in

the keyboard

component.

18.5

Up Arrow

String entry

Inactive

field.

19.0

Down

String entry

Move highlight to the “Delete” option.

Arrow

field.

19.1

Down

Delete option in

Move the highlight to the “A” key in the

Arrow

the keyboard

keyboard component.

component.

19.2

Down

Space option in

Move the highlight to the “C” key in the

Arrow

the keyboard

keyboard component.

component.

19.3

Down

Save option in

Move the highlight to the “E” key in the

Arrow

the keyboard

keyboard component.

component.

19.4

Down

Alphanumeric

Move the highlight to the next lower key in

Arrow

keys in keyboard

the keyboard component.

component, not

including bottom

row.

19.5

Down

Bottom row of

Inactive

Arrow

alphanumeric

keys in keyboard

component.

20.0

OK

String entry

The Guide may rename the current favorite

field, string

list using the character string in the string

contains at least

entry field, dismiss the Playlist Keyboard

one non-space

overlay and redisplay the screen it was

character.

accessed from.

20.1

OK

String entry

Inactive

field, string

contains no non-

space characters.

20.2

OK

Any

If fewer than, e.g., 25 characters have been

alphanumeric

entered, append the corresponding character

key, or space

to the character string, and shift the string

key, in the

entry field display as required.

keyboard

component.

20.2.1

OK

Any

Inactive if, e.g., 25 characters have been

alphanumeric

entered.

key, or space

key, in the

keyboard

component.

20.4

OK

Delete/backspace

Delete the rightmost search character in the

key in keyboard

search string entry field, and shift the search

component.

string entry field display as required.

20.4.1

OK

Delete/backspace

Inactive if there are no characters in the

key in keyboard

string entry field.

component.

20.5

OK

“Save” option in

The Guide may rename the current favorite

keyboard

list using the character string in the string

component,

entry field, dismiss the Playlist Keyboard

string contains at

overlay and redisplay the screen it was

least one non-

accessed from.

space character.

20.6

OK

“Save” option in

Inactive

keyboard

component,

string contains

no non-space

characters.

21.0

Digits 0-9

Any

If fewer than, e.g., 25 characters have been

entered, append the corresponding number to

the character string, and shift the string entry

field display as required.

21.1

Digits 0-9

Any

Inactive if, e.g., 25 characters have been

entered.

22.0

Scroll Up

Any

Inactive

23.0

Scroll

Any

Inactive

Down

24.0

Day

Any

Inactive

Forward

25.0

Day Back

Any

Inactive

26.0

Help

Any

Inactive

27.0

Info

Any

Inactive

28.0

Favorite

Any

Inactive

29.0

Lock

Any

Inactive

30.0

Record

Any

Inactive

31.0

Stop

Any

Inactive

32.0

Pause

Any

Inactive

33.0

Play

Any

Inactive

34.0

Rewind

Any

Inactive

35.0

Fast

Any

Inactive

Forward

36.0

PPV

Any

Normal

37.0

Letters A-Z

Any

If fewer than, e.g., 25 characters have been

entered, append the corresponding character

to the character string, and shift the string

entry field display as required.

37.1

Letters A-Z

Any

Inactive if, e.g., 25 characters have been

entered.

38.0

VOD

Any

Normal

39.0

Return to

Any

Normal

Live TV

40.0

Skip

Any

Inactive

Forward

41.0

Replay

Any

Inactive

42.0

A

Any

Inactive

43.0

B

Any

Inactive

44.0

C

Any

Inactive

45.0

Digital

Any

Normal

Recordings

46.0

Swap

Any

Inactive

FIG. 11 show an illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay that may be displayed when the user selects the Add to a Playlist Icon on the VOD Program Information screen. The user selects a playlist to which the program will be added. Tables 28-34 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 28

Illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay

System Description

No.

Description

1.0

VOD server 26 may maintain a list of playlists for each distinct STB.

1.1

The list of playlists may be ordered according to the date and time of

playlist creation, beginning with the most recently created playlist.

2.0

When the Guide requests the list of playlists, and if more than one playlist

has been created, VOD server 26 may provide the list of playlists to the Guide.

2.1

VOD server 26 pages up or down within the Select a Playlist overlay to

allow viewing of additional playlist list pages.

3.0

VOD server 26 responds to requests from the Guide to add a new playlist.

3.1

VOD server 26 may create up to, for example, 24 playlists per STB.

3.2

VOD server 26 may communicate an error to the Guide if a request is made

to add a new playlist, and the maximum number of playlists has been

reached for the STB.

4.0

VOD server 26 responds to requests from the Guide to add a VOD program to an

existing playlist.

4.1

VOD server 26 may include up to, for example, 24 programs per VOD playlist.

4.2

VOD server 26 may communicate an error to the Guide if a request is made

to add a program to a playlist, and the maximum number of programs has

been reached for the selected playlist.

TABLE 29

Illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay

General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the Select a Playlist Overlay when the user selects

the Add Video to Playlist Icon on the VOD Program Information screen.

2.0

The Select a Playlist Overlay may include:

an overlay title area

a playlist list area

an action icon area

3.0

The title of the Select a Playlist Overlay may be “Select a Playlist to add

this program to.” in the language specified by the user in the Guide setup,

displayed in yellow text, centered in the overlay title area.

4.0

The playlist list area may include a header row and a vertical list of playlists.

4.1

The header row may include, left justified, the Playlist icon, followed by

the text “Playlists” in white text, in the language specified by the user in

Guide setup.

4.2

Each list cell in the vertical list of playlists may include the playlist name, left

justified in white text.

5.0

If no playlists have been created, the vertical list of playlists may include

the text “No playlists have been created” in the language specified by the user at

Guide setup, displayed in yellow,

TABLE 30

Illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay Action

Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Last

Always present

Displays the screen from which it was displayed

2.0

Down Arrow

Always present

Displays the next page of VOD playlists

2.1

Down Arrow

Always present

Inactive if the current page is the last or only page.

3.0

New

Always present

If the maximum number of playlists has not

Playlist

been reached, the Guide may:

Send a request to VOD server 26 to create a

new playlist, assigning a default playlist name

in the form “Playlist <lowest positive integer

not already used to name a playlist>”, and

with the VOD program from the underlying

VOD Program Information screen as its sole asset.

Display the Playlist with Programs screen for

the new playlist.

3.1

New

Always present

If the maximum number of playlists has been

Playlist

reached, the Guide may display the Maximum

Playlists Notice

TABLE 31

Illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay Input Key Processing

No.

Key

Screen Focus

Behavior

1.0

Power

Any

Normal

2.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Up

3.0

Volume

Any

Normal

Down

4.0

Mute

Any

Normal

5.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Up

6.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Down

7.0

Bypass

Any

Normal

8.0

Menu

Any

Normal

9.0

Guide

Any

Normal

10.0

Music

Any

Normal

11.0

Themes

Any

Normal

12.0

Search

Any

Normal

13.0

Settings

Any

Normal

14.0

Exit

Any

Normal

15.0

Last

Any

Normal

16.0

Right

Any list cell

Inactive

Arrow

16.1

Right

Any action icon

Normal

Arrow

but farthest

right

16.2

Right

Farthest right

The Guide may move the highlight to the

Arrow

action icon

farthest left action icon.

17.0

Left Arrow

Any list cell

Inactive

17.1

Left Arrow

Any action icon

Normal

but the farthest

left

17.2

Left Arrow

Farthest left

The Guide may move the highlight to the

action icon

farthest right action icon.

18.0

Up Arrow

Top list cell on

Inactive

first page

18.1

Up Arrow

Any list cell

The Guide may move the highlight to the next

except top on

higher list cell.

page

18.2

Up Arrow

Top list cell on

The Guide may display the previous page and

any page but

highlight the bottom list cell.

first

18.3

Up Arrow

Any action icon

The Guide may highlight the bottom list cell

on the page.

19.0

Down

Any list cell

The Guide may move the highlight to the next

Arrow

except bottom

lower list cell.

on page

19.1

Down

Bottom list cell

The Guide may move the highlight to the

Arrow

Down Arrow Action Icon.

19.2

Down

Down Arrow

The Guide may display the next page of

Arrow

action icon

listings and highlight the top list cell.

19.3

Down

Any action icon

Inactive

Arrow

except Down

Arrow

20.0

OK

Any action icon

See Table 30.

20.1

OK

Any list cell

Send a request to VOD server 26 to add the

program from the underlying VOD Program

Information screen to the selected playlist. If

successful, dismiss the Select a Playlist

Overlay and display the Program Added

Overlay.

20.2

OK

Any list cell

Send a request to VOD server 26 to add the

program from the underlying VOD Program

Information screen to the selected playlist. If

the playlist has reached the maximum number

of programs, display the Maximum Programs

notice over the Select a Playlist Overlay.

21.0

Digits 0-9

Any

Normal

22.0

Scroll Up

Any

Normal

23.0

Scroll

Any

Normal

Down

24.0

Day

Any

Inactive

Forward

25.0

Day Back

Any

Inactive

26.0

Help

Any

Inactive

27.0

Info

Any list cell

The Guide may display the Playlist

Information Screen for the highlighted

Playlist.

27.1

Info

Any action Icon

Inactive

28.0

Favorite

Any

Inactive

29.0

Lock

Any

Inactive

30.0

Record

Any

Inactive

31.0

Stop

Any

Inactive

32.0

Pause

Any

Inactive

33.0

Play

Any

Inactive

34.0

Rewind

Any

Inactive

35.0

Fast

Any

Inactive

Forward

36.0

PPV

Any

Normal

37.0

Letters A-Z

Any

Inactive

38.0

VOD

Any

Inactive

39.0

Return to

Any

Inactive

Live TV

40.0

Skip

Any

Inactive

Forward

41.0

Replay

Any

Inactive

42.0

A

Any

Inactive

43.0

B

Any

Inactive

44.0

C

Any

Inactive

45.0

Digital

Any

Normal

Recordings

46.0

Swap

Any

Inactive

TABLE 32

Illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay

Other Event Handling

No.

Event

Conditions/Comments

1.0

Screen Timeout

Normal

2.0

Reminder

Normal

3.0

Scheduled Recording Fires

Normal

4.0

Ordered PPV Start

Normal

5.0

PPV Purchase Window

Inactive

Expires

6.0

Current Program Ends

Normal

7.0

Data added, deleted or

Normal

modified in database

TABLE 33

Illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay Screen/Mode Entry

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Guide Initialization

The Select a Playlist Overlay may be available as soon

as the VOD feature is available.

2.0

Highlight

The default highlight may be on the first

playlist in the list.

2.1

Highlight

If no playlists have been created, the default

highlight may be on the “Add Playlist” action

icon.

3.0

Display Inclusion Criteria

Display all existing playlists.

4.0

Sorting/Grouping Criteria

The playlists may be displayed in order of

creation time, from newest to oldest.

5.0

Customization

The OnDemand icon may be MSO-

configurable.

6.0

Other Entry Actions

Not applicable

7.0

VOD Program context

The Guide may retain the context of the VOD

program from the underlying VOD Program

Information screen.

TABLE 34

Illustrative Select a Playlist Overlay Screen Formatting

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Program Title

Not applicable

2.0

Time

Normal

3.0

Channel

Not applicable

4.0

Other Text

Not Applicable

5.0

Colors

Normal

6.0

Indicators

Not applicable

7.0

Branding

Not Applicable

8.0

Audio

Normal

9.0

LEDs

Normal

FIG. 12 shows an illustrative Maximum Playlists Overlay. The Maximum Playlists overlay may be displayed when the maximum number of playlists (e.g., 24) has been created, and the user makes a request to add a new playlist. Table 35 describes illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 35

Illustrative Maximum Playlists Overlay

General Descriptions

No.

Description

1.0

This overlay may be displayed when the user selects the New Playlist icon on the

Playlists List Screen or the Select a Playlist Overlay and the

maximum number of 24 playlists has already been created.

1.0

The Maximum Playlists Overlay may include the Playlist icon followed by

the title “MAXIMUM PLAYLISTS CREATED” in yellow text, centered at

the top of the overlay.

2.0

The Maximum Playlists Overlay may include the text “The maximum

number of Playlists has been reached. You must delete an existing Playlist

to continue.” in white text, centered below the title and in the language

specified by the user in Language Setup.

3.0

All key presses may follow the Common Input Key Processing definition

for Notice Overlays in the Appendix.

4.0

The Maximum Playlists Overlay may follow the Common Other Event

Handling definition for Notice Overlays in the Appendix.

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative Maximum Programs Notice. This notice may be displayed when the user attempts to add a program to a playlist that already contains the maximum number of programs. Table 36 describes illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 36

Illustrative Maximum Programs Notice

General Description

No.

Description

1.0

This notice may be displayed when the user selects a playlist

from the Select a Playlist Overlay, or attempts to “toggle

a program on” within the Playlist search screen, but the

playlist already contains the maximum

number of, e.g., 24 programs.

2.0

Notice text may be “You cannot add any more programs

to this Playlist.” displayed in yellow in the language selected

by the user in Guide Setup.

3.0

This notice may follow the description as defined for Overlay

Notice screens, except as specified in this section.

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative Program Added Overlay. The Program Added Overlay may be displayed when the Guide has successfully added a program to a playlist. Tables 37-38 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 37

Illustrative Program Added Overlay

General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The title of the Program Added Overlay may be “PROGRAM

ADDED” in the language specified by the viewer in the

Guide setup, displayed in yellow.

1.1

The Guide may display the text, “This program has been

added to the following playlist.”, on the Program Added

Overlay in the language specified by the viewer in the

Guide setup, displayed in white.

2.0

The Guide may display the OK/Yes Icon with the label

“Confirm” on the overlay, in the language specified

by the user in Guide setup.

2.1

When the OK key is pressed with the “Confirm” option

highlighted, the Guide dismisses the overlay.

3.0

The default highlight on the Program Added Overlay may

be the Confirm Icon.

4.0

Except as otherwise specified here, this overlay may follow the

description for Single Action Overlays in the Appendix).

TABLE 38

Illustrative Playlist with Programs Screen

Instant Information

No.

Line

Format

Description

1.0

1

Left

The name of the playlist, displayed in yellow

Justified

1.1

1

Right

The text “Contains <number> programs” in

Justified

the language specified by the user at Guide

setup, displayed in white, where <number> is

the number of programs in the playlist.

2.0

2

Left

Runtime of the playlist (total runtime of all

Justified

programs in the playlist)

FIG. 15 shows an illustrative Playlist Deletion Options Overlay. The Playlist Deletion Options Overlay may be displayed when the user selects the Delete Action Icon on the Playlist with Programs Screen. Tables 39-40 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 39

Illustrative Playlist Deletion Options Overlay

General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the Playlist Deletion Options Overlay when the

user selects the Delete Action Icon on the Playlist with Programs Screen.

1.1

The title of the Playlist Deletion Options Overlay may be “DELETION

OPTIONS” in the language specified by the viewer in the Guide setup,

displayed in yellow text.

2.0

If the user has checked the deletion checkbox for at least one program in

the Playlist with Programs screen, the Guide may display the Delete Icon

on the Playlist Deletion Options Overlay with the label “Delete programs

with a <checkmark/box> only” in the language specified by the user in the

Guide setup.

2.1

The Guide may display the Delete Icon on the Playlist Deletion Options

Overlay with the label “Delete all programs” in the language specified by

the user in the Guide setup.

2.2

The Guide may display the Delete Icon on the Playlist Deletion Options

Overlay with the label “Delete the entire playlist” in the language specified

by the user in the Guide setup.

2.3

The Guide may display the Last/Back Icon on the Playlist Deletion Options

Overlay with the label “Cancel” in the language specified by the user in the Guide

setup.

3.0

The Deletion Options may be displayed in the following order:

Delete programs with a <checkmark/box> only (if present)

Delete all programs

Delete the entire Playlist

Don't do anything

4.0

The default highlight may be the “Delete programs with a

<checkmark/box> only” option, if present.

4.1

If the “Delete programs with a <checkmark/box> only” option is not

present, the default highlight may be the “Delete all programs” option.

5.0

Except as specified in this section, this overlay may follow the description

in the Common Action Overlay section of the Appendix.

TABLE 40

Illustrative Playlist Deletion Options Overlay Action

Icon Description

No.

Action Icon

Function When Selected

1.0

Delete programs with a

If all of the programs are checked on the

checkmark only (if present)

underlying Playlist with Programs Screen, the

Guide may:

send a request to VOD server 26 to delete all programs

from the playlist

dismiss the overlay, and display the Default

Playlist Screen with the playlist name in place

of the default playlist name.

1.1

Delete programs with a

If not all of the programs are checked on the

checkmark only (if present)

underlying Playlist with Programs Screen, the

Guide may:

send a request to VOD server 26 to delete all

checked programs from the playlist

dismiss the overlay, and display the

underlying Playlist with Programs Screen

updated to reflect the deletions.

2.0

Delete all programs

The Guide may:

send a request to VOD server 26 to delete all

programs from the playlist

dismiss the overlay, and display the Default

Playlist Screen with the playlist name in place

of the default playlist name.

3.0

Delete the entire Playlist

The Guide may dismiss the overlay and

display the Delete Playlist Confirmation

Overlay.

4.0

Don't do anything

The Guide may dismiss the overlay.

FIG. 16 shows an illustrative Delete Playlist Confirmation Overlay that may be displayed when the user selects the Delete Action Icon on the Default Playlist Screen or selects the Delete Entire Playlist option on the Playlist Deletion Options Overlay. Tables 41-42 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 41

Illustrative Delete Playlist Confirmation Overlay

General Description

No.

Description

Rationale

1.0

The Guide may display the Delete Playlist

Confirmation Overlay when the user selects

the Delete Action Icon on the Default Playlist

Screen or selects the Delete Entire Playlist

option on the Playlist Deletion Options

Overlay.

1.1

The Guide may display the Delete Icon on the

Delete Playlist Confirmation Overlay with the

label “Delete Playlist” in the language

specified by the user in the Guide setup.

1.2

The Guide may display the Cancel Icon on the

Delete Playlist Confirmation Overlay with the

label “Don't delete Playlist” in the language

specified by the user in the Guide setup.

2.0

The default highlight may be the Delete Icon.

3.0

Except as specified in this section, this

confirmation screen may follow the

description provided in the Common

Confirmation Overlay section of the

Appendix.

TABLE 42

Illustrative Delete Playlist Confirmation Overlay

Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Delete

Always present

The Guide may:

Playlist

send a request to VOD server 26 to

delete the playlist with all of its contents

dismiss the overlay and display the

screen from which the playlist was

accessed.

2.0

Don't

Always present

The Guide may dismiss the

delete

overlay.

Playlist

FIG. 17 shows an illustrative overlay that may be displayed when the user selects the Lock Action Icon on the Default Playlist Screen or Playlist with Programs Screen and enters the proper PIN on the Enter Locks PIN Overlay. If a playlist is locked, anyone without the correct PIN will not be able to access the Playlist for playback, editing, or deleting. Tables 43-44 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 43

Illustrative Lock Playlist Overlay General Description

No.

Description

1.0

This overlay may be displayed when the user selects the Lock Action Icon

on the Default Playlist Screen or Playlist with Programs Screen and enters

the proper PIN on the Enter Locks PIN Overlay.

2.0

Title text for the Lock Playlist Overlay may be “LOCK

CONFIRMATION” displayed in yellow.

2.1

Descriptive text under the title text may be “Locking will restrict access to

this playlist.”, displayed in white.

3.0

If the playlist is currently unlocked, the Guide may display the Unlocked

Icon on the Lock Playlist Overlay with the label “Lock this playlist” in the

language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

3.1

If the playlist is currently locked, the Guide may display the Locked Icon

on the Lock Playlist Overlay with the label “Unlock this playlist” in the

language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

4.0

The Guide may display the OK/Yes Icon on the Lock Playlist Overlay with

the label “Confirm this Lock” in the language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

5.0

The default highlight for this overlay may be the “Confirm this lock”

option.

6.0

Except as specified in this section, this overlay may follow the description

provided in the Common Action Overlay section of the Appendix.

TABLE 44

Illustrative Lock Playlist Overlay

Action Icon Description

No.

Action Icon

Function When Selected

1.0

Lock this

The Guide may update the playlist lock state

playlist

to locked, updates the action icon to the

Locked Icon, and updates the label to “Unlock

this playlist”.

1.1

Unlock this

The Guide may update the playlist lock state

playlist

to unlocked, updates the action icon to the

Unlocked Icon, and updates the label to “Lock

this playlist”.

2.0

Confirm this

The Guide may dismiss the overlay.

lock

FIGS. 18 and 19 show illustrative Playlist Search Screens that may be displayed when the user selects the Search action icon on the Default Playlist Screen or the Playlist with Programs Screen. These screens may contain free VOD listing search results available to add to a playlist. Tables 45-50 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such screens.

TABLE 45

Illustrative Playlist Search Screen General

Description Table

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the Playlist Search Screen when the user selects the

Search Icon on the Default Playlist Screen or the Playlist with Programs

Screen.

2.0

The Playlist Search screen may include:

a screen header area

an instant information area

a playlist candidate area

an action icon area

3.0

The playlist candidate area may include a header row and a vertical list of

playlist candidates.

3.1

The header row in the playlist candidate area may include the Search icon,

followed by the text “<Playlist name> Search”, left justified, where the text

“Search” is in the language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

3.2

The header row in the playlist candidate area may include the text “Select

to add or delete”, right justified, and in the language specified by the user in the Guide

setup.

4.0

The vertical list of playlist candidates may include all VOD programs that

are available to the user for free, without any subscription or purchase.

4.1

The listing cell for any VOD program that is currently included in the

playlist may display the Playlist icon, right justified in the listing cell.

5.0

The Guide may not permit inclusion of more than, e.g., 24 distinct VOD

programs for the playlist.

5.1

If the user has toggled the playlist indicator “on” for, e.g., 24 programs, and

attempts to toggle the playlist indicator “on” for an additional program, the

Guide may display the Maximum Programs Notice.

6.0

Programs may be added to/deleted from a playlist immediately when

toggled on/off within the Playlist Search screen.

TABLE 46

Illustrative Playlist Search Screen Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Last

Always

Displays the screen from which it was

present

displayed

2.0

Down

Always

Displays the next page of search results if

Arrow

present

there is a next page

2.1

Down

Always

Inactive if there is no next page

Arrow

present

4.0

Confirm

Always

Displays the Default Playlist Screen if there

present

are no programs marked as included in the

playlist

4.1

Confirm

Always

Displays the Playlist with Programs Screen

present

if there are one or more programs marked

as included in the playlist

8.0

Delete

Always

Displays the Clear All Programs

present

Confirmation Overlay

TABLE 47

Illustrative Playlist Search Screen Input Key Processing

No.

Key

Screen Focus

Behavior

1.0

Power

Any

Normal

2.0

Volume Up

Any

Normal

3.0

Volume Down

Any

Normal

4.0

Mute

Any

Normal

5.0

Channel Up

Any

Normal

6.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Down

7.0

Bypass

Any

Normal

8.0

Menu

Any

Normal

9.0

Guide

Any

Normal

10.0

Music

Any

Normal

11.0

Themes

Any

Normal

12.0

Search

Any

Normal

13.0

Settings

Any

Normal

14.0

Exit

Any

Normal

15.0

Last

Any

Normal

16.0

Right Arrow

Any list cell

Inactive

16.1

Right Arrow

Any action

Normal

icon but

farthest right

16.2

Right Arrow

Farthest right

The Guide may move the highlight to the

action icon

farthest left action icon.

17.0

Left Arrow

Any list cell

Inactive

17.1

Left Arrow

Any action

Normal

icon but the

farthest left

17.2

Left Arrow

Farthest left

The Guide may move the highlight to the

action icon

farthest right action icon.

18.0

Up Arrow

Top list cell on

Inactive

first page

18.1

Up Arrow

Any list cell

The Guide may move the highlight to the

except top on

next higher list cell.

page

18.2

Up Arrow

Top list cell on

The Guide may display the previous page

any page but

and highlight the bottom list cell.

first

18.3

Up Arrow

Any action

The Guide may highlight the bottom list

icon

cell on the page.

19.0

Down Arrow

Any list cell

The Guide may move the highlight to the

except bottom

next lower list cell.

on page

19.1

Down Arrow

Bottom list cell

The Guide may move the highlight to the

Down Arrow Action Icon.

19.2

Down Arrow

Down Arrow

The Guide may display the next page of

action icon

listings and highlight the top list cell.

19.3

Down Arrow

Any action

Inactive

icon except

Down Arrow

20.0

OK

Any action

See Table 46.

icon

20.1

OK

Any list cell

The Guide may add/remove the program

from the playlist and toggle the Playlist

Indicator on or off, right justified in the

list cell.

21.0

Digits 0-9

Any

Normal

22.0

Scroll Up

Any

Normal

23.0

Scroll Down

Any

Normal

24.0

Day Forward

Any

Inactive

25.0

Day Back

Any

Inactive

26.0

Help

Any

Inactive

27.0

Info

Any list cell

The Guide may display the VOD Program

Information Screen for the highlighted

program.

27.1

Info

Any action

Inactive

Icon

28.0

Favorite

Any

Inactive

29.0

Lock

Any

Inactive

30.0

Record

Any

Inactive

31.0

Stop

Any

Inactive

32.0

Pause

Any

Inactive

33.0

Play

Any

Inactive

34.0

Rewind

Any

Inactive

35.0

Fast Forward

Any

Inactive

36.0

PPV

Any

Normal

37.0

Letters A-Z

Any

Inactive

38.0

VOD

Any

Inactive

39.0

Return to Live

Any

Inactive

TV

40.0

Skip Forward

Any

Inactive

41.0

Replay

Any

Inactive

42.0

A

Any

Inactive

43.0

B

Any

Inactive

44.0

C

Any

Inactive

45.0

Digital

Any

Normal

Recordings

46.0

Swap

Any

Inactive

TABLE 48

Illustrative Playlist Search Screen Other Event Handling

No.

Event

Conditions/Comments

1.0

Screen Timeout

Normal

2.0

Reminder

Normal

3.0

Scheduled Recording Fires

Normal

4.0

Ordered PPV Start

Normal

5.0

PPV Purchase Window

Inactive

Expires

6.0

Current Program Ends

Normal

7.0

Data added, deleted or

Normal

modified in database

TABLE 49

Illustrative Playlist Search

Screen/Mode Entry

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Guide Initialization

The Playlist Search Screen may be available

as soon as the VOD feature is available.

2.0

Highlight

The default highlight may be on the first

listing in the playlist candidate area.

3.0

Display Inclusion

Display all VOD programs that are free

without any subscription or purchase.

4.0

Sorting/Grouping

Programs may be sorted in ascending

Criteria

alphanumeric order.

5.0

Customization

The OnDemand icon may be MSO-

configurable.

6.0

Other Entry Actions

Not applicable

7.0

Playlist context

The Playlist Search screen may retain the

context of the VOD playlist in the Playlist

Information screen from which this screen

was invoked.

TABLE 50

Illustrative Playlist Search Screen Formatting

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Program Title

Normal

2.0

Time

Normal

3.0

Channel

Not applicable

4.0

Other Text

Not Applicable

5.0

Colors

Normal

6.0

Indicators

Not applicable

7.0

Branding

Not Applicable

8.0

Audio

Normal

9.0

LEDs

Normal

FIG. 20 shows an illustrative Clear All Programs Confirmation Overlay that may be displayed when the user selects the Delete action icon on the Playlist Search Screen. Tables 51-52 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 51

Illustrative Clear All Programs Confirmation Overlay

General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the Clear All Programs Overlay when the

user selects the Delete action icon on the Playlist Search Screen.

1.1

The Guide may display the title “CLEAR ALL PROGRAM

SELECTIONS” on the Clear All Programs Overlay in the language

specified by the user in the Guide setup, in yellow text.

1.2

The Guide may display the prompt “Are you sure you want to

clear all program selections for this playlist?” on the

Clear All Programs Overlay in the language

specified by the user in Guide setup.

1.3

The Guide may display the OK/Yes icon on the Clear All Programs

Overlay with the label “Clear all program selections” in the

language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

1.4

The Guide may display the Cancel icon on the Clear All

Programs Overlay with the label “Don't clear” in the

language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

2.0

The default highlight may be the OK/Yes icon.

3.0

Except as specified in this section, this confirmation

screen may follow the description provided in the Common

Confirmation Overlay section of the Appendix.

TABLE 52

Illustrative Clear All Programs Confirmation Overlay

Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Clear all

Always

Dismisses the Clear All Programs

program

present

Overlay, clears all programs from the

selections

playlist, and displays the underlying

Playlist Search Screen updated with all

playlist indicators removed.

2.0

Don't

Always

Dismisses the Clear All

clear

present

Programs Overlay.

Section III. Bookmarks

The Bookmark feature allows the user to save any programs in the combined Bookmarked/Suspended Programs List (collectively referred to herein as the Saved Programs List). In the embodiment described below, only On Demand programs are included. In other embodiments, Non-On Demand programs may be included.

In this embodiment, any On Demand program can be bookmarked regardless of whether it is always free, free with a subscription, or requires a purchase. The user may select a Bookmark Icon from, for example, an On Demand program information screen.

FIG. 21 shows an illustrative Bookmark a VOD Program Confirmation Overlay that may be displayed when the user selects the Bookmark Icon in a VOD program information screen, and the program has not already been bookmarked. Tables 53-55 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 53

Illustrative Bookmark a Program Confirmation

Overlay System Description

No.

Description

1.0

VOD server 26 may maintain a list of bookmarked

programs for each distinct STB.

2.0

VOD server 26 may add the program shown in the information

screen to the list of bookmarked programs if the Guide

makes a set bookmark request based on user selection

of the “Bookmark this program” action icon.

2.1

VOD server 26 may bookmark any VOD asset that is

accessible to the subscriber.

2.2

If VOD server 26 already has a maximum, e.g., 20

bookmarked programs for a STB, and if the Guide

requests an additional bookmarked program, VOD server

26 may delete the oldest bookmarked program from the

bookmarked programs list for the STB.

TABLE 54

Illustrative Bookmark a Program Confirmation

Overlay General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the Bookmark a Program Confirmation

Overlay when the user selects the Bookmark Icon in any

VOD program information screen.

1.1

The Guide may display the Bookmark button on the Bookmark

a Program Confirmation Overlay with the label “Bookmark

this program” in the language specified by

the user in the Guide setup.

1.2

The Guide may display the Cancel button on the Bookmark

a Program Confirmation Overlay with the label “Don't bookmark

this program” in the language specified

by the user in the Guide setup.

2.0

The default highlight may be the Bookmark this program

action icon.

3.0

Except as specified in this section, this confirmation screen may

follow the description provided in the Common Confirmation

Overlay section of the Appendix.

TABLE 55

Illustrative Bookmark a Program Confirmation

Overlay Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Bookmark

Always present

Request that VOD server 26 add the

this

bookmark, dismiss the Bookmark a

program

Program Confirmation Overlay, and

update the instant information display

in the underlying VOD program

information screen.

2.0

Don't

Always present

Dismiss the Bookmark a

bookmark

Program Confirmation Overlay

this

program

FIG. 22 shows an illustrative Previously Bookmarked Confirmation Overlay that may be displayed when the user selects the Bookmark Icon on a VOD program information screen for a program that has already been bookmarked. Tables 56-58 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

TABLE 56

Illustrative Previously Bookmarked Confirmation

Overlay System Description

No.

Description

1.0

VOD server 26 may maintain a list of bookmarked programs

for each distinct STB.

2.0

VOD server 26 may delete the program shown in the

information screen from the Saved Programs List if the Guide

makes a remove Bookmark request based on user selection of the

“Don't keep this program bookmarked” action icon.

TABLE 57

Illustrative Previously Bookmarked Confirmation

Overlay General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the Previously Bookmarked Confirmation Overlay

when the user selects the Bookmark Icon in a VOD program information screen for

a program that has already been bookmarked.

1.1

The Guide may display the title “This program is already bookmarked.” on

the Previously Bookmarked Confirmation Overlay in the language

specified by the user in the Guide setup, in yellow text.

1.2

The Guide may display the Bookmark button on the Previously

Bookmarked Confirmation Overlay with the label “Keep this program

bookmarked” in the language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

1.3

The Guide may display the Cancel button on the Previously Bookmarked

Confirmation Overlay with the label “Don't keep this program

bookmarked” in the language specified by the user in the Guide setup.

2.0

The default highlight may be the “Bookmark” Icon.

3.0

Except as specified in this section, this confirmation screen may follow the

description provided in the Common Confirmation Overlay section of the

Appendix.

TABLE 58

Illustrative Previously Bookmarked Confirmation

Overlay Action Icon Table

No.

Name

Condition

Description

1.0

Keep this

Always

Dismiss the Previously Bookmarked

program

present

Confirmation Overlay.

bookmarked

2.0

Don't keep

Always

Request that VOD server 26 remove the

this program

present

bookmark, dismiss the Previously

bookmarked

Bookmarked Confirmation Overlay, and

update the instant information display in

the underlying VOD program

information screen.

FIGS. 23 and 24 shows illustrative Saved Programs Listing Screens that contain a list of programs the user has either bookmarked or suspended after selecting the Buy or Watch action icon on an On Demand program information screen. VOD server 26 (FIG. 1) may provides a link to the Saved Programs Listing Screen through the On Demand Main Menu or a VRN screen by defining a category on the screen for the saved programs. From this screen the user can access the On Demand information screen for a saved program and begin or resume watching that program. Tables 59-65 describe illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such overlays.

TABLE 59

Illustrative Saved Programs Listing Screen

System Description

No.

Description

1.0

VOD server 26 may maintain a list of suspended programs for each distinct

subscriber household.

2.0

VOD server 26 may maintain a list of bookmarked programs for each distinct STB.

3.0

When the Guide requests the saved programs list, VOD server 26 may

provide a combined list including:

bookmarked programs for the STB

suspended programs for the subscriber household.

3.1

The combined saved programs list may be sorted to include all suspended

programs first, followed by all bookmarked programs.

3.2

Suspended programs and bookmarked programs may not be intermingled

within the saved programs list.

3.3

Suspended programs may be sorted alphanumerically within the suspended

programs section of the saved programs list.

3.4

Bookmarked programs may be sorted alphanumerically within the

suspended programs section of the saved programs list.

3.5

VOD server 26 may identify each individual program within the combined

household, and if the Guide requests an additional suspended program, the

On Demand system may delete the oldest3 suspended program from the

suspended programs list for the subscriber household.

4.3

VOD server 26 may automatically delete suspended programs from the

saved programs list when the rental or viewing period has expired.

4.4

VOD server 26 may automatically delete suspended programs from the

saved programs list if they reach the end of their licensing window.

5.0

VOD server 26 may support up to, e.g., 20 bookmarked programs per STB.

5.1

VOD server 26 may bookmark any On Demand asset that is accessible to

the subscriber.

5.2

If VOD server 26 already has, e.g., 20 bookmarked programs for a STB,

and if the Guide requests an additional bookmarked program, VOD server

26 may delete the oldest bookmarked program from the bookmarked

programs list for the STB.

5.3

VOD server 26 may automatically delete bookmarked programs from the

saved programs list if they reach the end of their licensing window.

6.0

If the Guide requests suspension of a program that has already been

bookmarked, VOD server 26 may change the status of the program from

bookmarked to suspended.

6.1

If the Guide requests purchase and/or playback of a bookmarked program

that cannot be suspended, the program may be removed from the saved

programs list.

7.0

The system may provide an On Demand icon to the Guide.

7.1

The On Demand icon may be configurable to the individual headend level.

8.0

The VOD Server 26 may provide a screen title for the Saved Programs

Listing screen to the Guide.

9.0

The VOD Server 26 may indicate whether a Barker Window should be

displayed in the Saved Programs Listing screen.

10.0

The VOD Server 26 may provide the following metadata as applicable, for

each program in the Saved Programs list:

Short program title

Suspended or Bookmarked flag

Expiration date (for suspended programs)

Licensing window data (for bookmarked programs)

Adult flag

Price string

Closed caption flag

HDTV flag

Dolby digital audio flag

Widescreen flag

TV Rating/MPAA Rating

In a Playlist flag

Program duration

Year

Actor1, Actor2

Free flag

Last chance flag

11.0

The system may provide an On Demand brand to the Guide.

11.0

The On Demand brand may be configurable to the headend level.

3The “oldest” suspended program is the suspended program with the earliest expiration date/time.

TABLE 60

Illustrative Saved Programs Listing Screen

Instant Information Display

Highlight

No.

Location

Line

Description

1.0

Any Program,

1

Short program title, left justified in yellow

if video barker

text, as specified in the On Demand data.

is present

1.0

Any Program,

1

Full program title, left justified in yellow text,

if video barker

as specified in the On Demand data.

is not present

2.0

Any Program

1

Price string, right justified in yellow text, as specified

marked as

in the On Demand data.

“Free”, if video

barker is not

present.

2.1

Any Program

1

Price string, right justified in white text, as

not marked as

specified in the On Demand data.

“Free”, if video

barker is not

present.

2.2

Any Program

2

Price string, left justified in yellow text, as

marked as

specified in the On Demand data.

“Free”, if video

barker is

present.

2.3

Any Program

2

Price string, left justified in white text, as

not marked as

specified in the On Demand data.

“Free”, if video

barker is

present.

3.0

Any Program

2

Program indicators, right justified, as specified

in Table 65.

4.0

Any Program,

2

Program duration, left justified in white text,

if video barker

in the format “<duration in minutes>min”.

is not present

4.1

Any Program,

3

Program duration, left justified in white text,

if video barker

in the format “<duration in minutes>min”.

is present

5.0

Any Program

3

Year, right justified in white text, in the format

“(<year>)”.

6.0

Any

3

The text “Ends <last date of licensing

bookmarked

window>“, left justified in white text, in the

program, if Last

language specified by the user in guide setup.

Chance flag is

Date format is “<mm/dd/yyyy>“, or

set and video

“<yyyy/dd/mm>“ for DLA.

barker is not

present.

6.1

Any

3

“<Actor 1>, <Actor 2>“, left justified in white

bookmarked

text.

program, if Last

Chance flag is

not set and

video barker is

not present.

6.2

Any suspended

3

The text “Expires <expiration date/time for

program, if

suspended program>“, left justified in white

video barker is

text, in the language specified by the user in

not present.

guide setup. Date/time format is “<mm/dd> at

<hh:mm><a/p>“, or “<dd/mm> at

<hh:mm><a/p>“ for DLA.

6.3

Any

4

The text “Ends <last date of licensing

bookmarked

window>“, left justified in white text, in the

program, if Last

language specified by the user in guide setup.

Chance flag is

Date format is “<mm/dd/yyyy>“, or

set and video

“<yyyy/dd/mm>“ for DLA.

barker is

present.

6.4

Any

4

“<Actor 1>, <Actor 2>“, left justified in white

bookmarked

text.

program, if Last

Chance flag is

not set and

video barker is

present.

6.5

Any suspended

4

The text “Expires <expiration date/time for

program, if

suspended program>“, left justified in white

video barker is

text, in the language specified by the user in

present.

guide setup. Date/time format is “<mm/dd> at

<hh:mm><a/p>“, or “<dd/mm> at

<hh:mm><a/p>“ for DLA.

TABLE 61

Illustrative Saved Programs Listing Screen

General Description

No.

Description

1.0

The Saved Programs Listing screen may include:

a screen header area

an instant information area

a saved programs listing area

1.1

The saved programs listing area may include a header row and a vertical saved

programs list.

1.2

The saved programs listing area header row may include the On Demand

icon, followed by the screen title specified in the On Demand data, left justified

in white text.

2.0

The Guide may obtain a list of suspended and/or bookmarked programs for display

on the Saved Programs Listing Screen.

2.1

The Guide may display between, e.g., zero and seven listing cells on the

Saved Programs Listing screen.

2.1.1

When a Barker Window is present, the Guide may display between, e.g.,

zero and six listing cells on the Saved Program Listing Screen.

2.2

The listing cells may be displayed by the Guide on the Saved Programs

Listing screen in a vertical column, below the header row in the saved

programs listing area.

2.3

The Guide may display one listing cell for each distinct asset that is

returned in the On Demand data.

2.4

The label of each listing on the Saved Programs Listing screen may be the

short title of the program, as specified by the On Demand data, unless the

video is rated Adult and the Hide Adult Titles option is enabled in the

Parental Control Setup.

2.5

The label of a listing cell on the Saved Programs Listing Screen may be

“Adult Programming” in the user-selected language, if the rating of the

video is Adult and the user has enabled the Hide Adult Titles option in the

Parental Control Setup.

2.6

The Guide may display the Bookmarked icon on the listing cell if the On

Demand data indicates that the program is bookmarked.

2.6.1

The Guide may display the text “Ends” in the user-selected text language,

followed by the last date of the program's licensing window, right justified

in the listing cell, directly to the left of the bookmarked icon, if the On

Demand data indicates that the program is bookmarked, and that the

program is a last chance video.

Example: “Ends 6/25” (i.e. June 25)

2.6.2

In a DLA environment, the Guide may display “Ends” in the user-selected

text language, followed by the last date of the program's licensing window

in international date format, right justified in the listing cell, directly to the

left of the bookmarked icon, if the On Demand data indicates that the

program is bookmarked, and that the program is a last chance video.

Example: “Ends 25/6” (i.e. June 25)

2.7

The Guide may display the Checkmark icon on the listing cell if the On

Demand data indicates that the program is suspended.

2.7.1

The Guide may display the text “Expires” in the user-selected text

language, followed by expiration date and time, right justified in the listing

cell, directly to the left of the checkmark icon, if the On Demand data

indicates that the program is suspended.

Example: “Expires 11/12 at 8:05p” (i.e. November 12)

2.7.2

In a DLA environment, the Guide may display “Expires” in the user-

selected text language, followed by the expiration date and time in

international date format, right justified in the listing cell, directly to the

left of the checkmark icon, if the On Demand data indicates that the

program is suspended.

Example: “Expires 12/11 at 8:05p” (i.e. November 12)

2.8

The Guide may display the program listing cells on the screen in the order

programs are specified in the On Demand data, beginning with the top cell

and proceeding to the bottom cell.

2.9

The color of the listing cells on the Saved Programs Listing Screen may be

blue.

3.0

The Guide may highlight the screen item that currently has focus.

4.0

The Guide may provide a mechanism to page up and down to view

additional saved program listing pages.

4.1

Navigation across multiple saved program listing pages may not be

circular, navigation above the top of the list or below the bottom of the list

may be disabled.

5.0

The Guide may control the display of the Saved Programs Listing Screen

elements.

5.1

The Guide may postpone display of the listing cells until the listing data is

available.

5.2

The Guide may display the No Listings Available Screen if the server

returns an indication that no suspended or bookmarked programs are

currently available.

6.0

The Guide may support an optional barker window on the Saved Programs

Listings screen as specified in the On Demand data.

6.1

The Guide may remove the on-screen display of the Saved Programs

Listing Screen between sets of coordinates using a scale of e.g.,

1000 × 1000 screen pixels when the Saved Programs Listing Screen is

displayed and the On Demand data indicates that the barker is enabled in

particular positions.

6.2

The Guide may not remove the on-screen display to accommodate the

barker window when the Saved Programs Listing screen is displayed and

the On Demand data indicates that the barker window is not enabled or the

barker window is enabled in various positions.

TABLE 62

Illustrative Saved Programs Listing Screen Input Key

Processing Table

No.

Key

Screen Focus

Behavior

1.0

Power

Any

Normal

2.0

Volume Up

Any

Normal

3.0

Volume Down

Any

Normal

4.0

Mute

Any

Normal

5.0

Channel Up

Any

Normal

6.0

Channel

Any

Normal

Down

7.0

Bypass

Any

Normal

8.0

Menu

Any

Normal

9.0

Guide

Any

Normal

10.0

Music

Any

Normal

11.0

Themes

Any

Normal

12.0

Search

Any

Normal

13.0

Settings

Any

Normal

14.0

Exit

Any

The Guide may return to Idle Mode and

display Flip Banner.

15.0

Last

Any

Normal if the previous screen was not an

On Demand video.

15.1

Last

Any

The Guide may display the top-level

categories of the On Demand Main Menu

and place the focus on the top-left category

bar if the previous screen was an On

Demand video.

16.0

Right Arrow

Any

Inactive

17.0

Left Arrow

Any

Inactive

18.0

Up Arrow

Top Listing

The Guide may display the previous page

Cell, any but

of listings with lowest selectable listing cell highlighted.

First Page

18.1

Up Arrow

Top Listing

Inactive

Cell, First or

Only Page

18.2

Up Arrow

Other

Normal

19.0

Down Arrow

Bottom listing

The Guide may display the next page of

cell, any but

listings with top listing highlighted.

last page

19.1

Down Arrow

Bottom listing

Inactive

cell, last page

19.2

Down Arrow

Other

Normal

20.0

OK

Listing Cell

The Guide may display the On Demand

Program Information - Not Suspended

Screen for the program if the listing cell

represents a bookmarked program.

20.1

OK

Listing Cell

The Guide may display the On Demand

Program Information - Suspended Screen

for the program if the listing cell represents

a suspended program.

21.0

Digits 09

Any

Normal

22.0

Scroll Up

Any

Normal

23.0

Scroll Down

Any

Normal

24.0

Day Forward

Any

Inactive

25.0

Day Back

Any

Inactive

26.0

Help

Any

Inactive

27.0

Info

Listing Cell

The Guide may display the On Demand

Program Information - Not Suspended

Screen for the program if the listing cell

represents a bookmarked program.

27.1

Info

Listing Cell

The Guide may display the On Demand

Program Information -Suspended Screen

for the program if the listing cell represents

a suspended program.

28.0

Favorite

Any

Inactive

29.0

Lock

Program

Normal

Listing

30.0

Record

Any

Inactive

31.0

Stop

Any

Inactive

32.0

Pause

Any

Inactive

33.0

Play

Any

Inactive

34.0

Rewind

Any

Inactive

35.0

Fast Forward

Any

Inactive

36.0

PPV

Any

Normal

37.0

Letters AZ

Any

Inactive

38.0

VOD

Any

Inactive

39.0

Return to Live

Any

Normal

TV

40.0

Skip Forward

Any

Inactive

41.0

Replay

Any

Inactive

42.0

A

Any

Inactive

43.0

B

Any

Inactive

44.0

C

Any

Inactive

45.0

Digital

Any

Normal

Recordings

46.0

Swap

Any

Inactive

TABLE 63

Illustrative Saved Programs Listings Screen

Other Event Handling Table

No.

Event

Conditions/Comments

1.0

Screen Timeout

This screen may time out in

2 minutes to the underlying

screen.

2.0

Reminder

Normal

3.0

Scheduled Recording Fires

Normal

4.0

Ordered PPV Start

Normal

5.0

PPV Purchase Window

Inactive

Expires

6.0

Current Program Ends

Inactive with Barker window,

Normal without Barker

window

7.0

Data added, deleted or

Not Applicable

modified in database

TABLE 64

Illustrative Saved Programs Listings Screen/Mode

Entry Table

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Guide

The Saved Programs Listing Screen may be

Initialization

immediately available after startup.

2.0

Highlight

The default highlight may be the first listing

on the page.

2.1

Highlight

The highlight position may not be

remembered when this screen is exited

3.0

Display Inclusion

Refer to the system and general description

Criteria

above.

4.0

Sorting/Grouping

The items on the screen may be displayed in

Criteria

the order received from VOD server 26.

5.0

Customization

Refer to Table 61.

TABLE 65

Illustrative Saved Programs Listings Screen Formatting

No.

Functionality

Description

1.0

Program Title

The label of each listing on the Saved

Programs Listing Screen may be the short title

of the video as returned by the VOD Server 26

unless the video is rated Adult and the Hide

Adult Titles option is enabled in the Parental

Control Setup.

1.1

Program Title

The label of a listing cell on the Saved

Programs Listing Screen may be “Adult

Programming” in the user-selected language if

the rating of the video is Adult and the user

has enabled the Hide Adult Titles option in the

Parental Control Setup.

2.0

Time

Normal

3.0

Channel

Not Applicable

4.0

Other Text

Not Applicable

5.0

Colors

The color of the listing cells may be blue.

6.0

Indicators

Program Indicators may be displayed as

applicable, right justified within the instant

information area in the following order of

priority (displayed left to right):

Lock/Un-Lock

Closed Caption

HDTV

Dolby Digital Audio

Wide Screen

TV Rating/Movie Rating

Purchase or Checkmark Indicator

Bookmarked

In a Playlist

If the full title and all active indicators do not

fit within the Instant Information area, then

one or more of the lowest priority indicators

may be omitted as necessary.

6.1

Indicators

The icon associated with the menu option used

to access the Saved Programs Listing screen

may be displayed to the left of the screen title

in the saved program listing area header.

6.2

Indicators

An up or down arrow icon may be displayed

to indicate the availability of additional pages

of listings.

7.0

Branding

The On Demand brand provided by the system

may be displayed left-justified within the

screen header area.

8.0

Audio

If a video barker is provided, the audio may

correspond to that barker.

8.1

Audio

If no video barker window is displayed, the

audio may be normal.

9.0

LEDs

The Guide may display the last user channel

or current time on the LED according to the

description provided in the Appendix for

time/channel display on the LED.

When the viewer elects to delete a video from the Saved Programs Listing Screen, the Guide may display a confirmation overlay explaining the operation that they are about to perform and requesting confirmation before proceeding. FIG. 25 shows an illustrative Delete Video Confirmation Overlay. Table 66 describes illustrative behaviors of the IPG and/or VOD server 26 in connection with providing such an overlay.

For the purposes of the Delete Confirmation Overlay the “Delete Rental” option is also referred to as the “YES” option and the “Don't Delete Rental” option is also referred to as the “NO” option.

TABLE 66

Illustrative Delete a Video Confirmation Overlay

No.

Description

1.0

The Guide may display the Delete a Video Confirmation Overlay when the user

selects the Delete option from a Rented Video Information screen.

1.1

The Guide may display the title, “DELETE CONFIRMATION” in yellow

text on the Delete a Video Confirmation Overlay in the language specified by the

viewer in the guide setup.

1.2

The Guide may display the instruction text, “Deleting this video will

remove it from your saved video list. You will have to order the video

again if you wish to watch it, which may result in additional charges

Proceed with deletion?” In white text on the Delete a Video Confirmation

Overlay in the language specified by the viewer in the guide setup.

1.3

The Delete Rental (Yes) button may be displayed on the Delete a Video

Confirmation Overlay by the Guide with the label “Delete Rental” in the

language specified by the viewer through the guide setup.

1.4

The Don't Delete Rental (No) button may be displayed on the Delete a

Video Confirmation Overlay by the Guide with the label “Don't Delete

Rental” in the language specified by the viewer through the guide setup.

2.0

The default highlight may be the Don't Delete Rental (No) option.

3.0

If the user selects the Yes button, the Guide may send a request to the VOD

Server 26 to delete the video, remove the Delete a Video Confirmation

Overlay, query the VOD Server 26 for the current saved programs, and

display the Saved Programs Listing Screen with the current saved programs

returned by the server and the top listing bar highlighted.

4.0

If the user selects the No button, the Guide may remove the Delete a Video

Confirmation Overlay and highlight the Delete button.

5.0

Except as specified in this section, this confirmation screen may follow the

description provided in the Common Confirmation Overlay section of the

Appendix.

6.0

If the user pressed the Info key while this overlay is displayed, the Guide

may remove the Delete a Video Confirmation Overlay and highlight the

Delete button.

Section IV. Illustrative Playlist Transport Bar

A playlist transport bar according to the invention provides an overlay which graphically represents assets of a playlist in a manner that enables a user to easily ascertain a playback position within the playlist and within a particular asset.

A playlist transport bar may be displayed in response to any number of different user inputs. For example, a user input device may have a playlist transport bar button which causes the playlist transport bar to be displayed when pressed. The transport bar may be removed when the button is pressed again. The playlist transport bar may be displayed when the user issues a stop, pause, fast-forward, rewind, play, resume, or any other command that affects playback of an asset. For example, the playlist transport bar may be displayed for a predetermined period of time in response to a pause or stop command. After the predetermined period of time expires, the interactive media application may substitute other content in place of the pause or stopped media to prevent screen burn-in. As another example, the playlist transport bar may be displayed while the user is issuing a fast-forward or rewind command. When the user resumes playback of assets in the playlist, the playlist transport toolbar may be displayed for a predetermined period of time before it is removed from the screen. In yet another example, the playlist transport bar may be displayed when the user is navigating among various elements of the transport bar (discussed below in more detail in connection with FIGS. 32-36).

FIGS. 26 and 27 show illustrative transport bars for playing back assets of a playlist. FIG. 26 shows an illustrative transport bar 2602 that the interactive television application (e.g., IPG) may display on screen 2600 when the user begins playing back a program from a playlist (such as by, for example, selecting the resume or restart icons of FIGS. 6-9).

FIG. 27 shows an illustrative playlist transport bar that may be displayed when a user pauses playback in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. In some embodiments, users may stop playback, which may result in having an illustrative playlist transport bar be displayed. In other embodiments, the interactive television application may stop playback automatically after the playlist has been paused for a period of time. Users may resume playback of a paused or stopped program by, for example, selecting the resume icon of FIGS. 6-9 or by pressing a play button on a remote device.

Playlist transport bar 2602 may display information such as the title of the currently playing program (shown here as Lost, Episode 2), the name of the playlist (shown here as Jane's Playlist), and the total amount of time of programming in the entire playlist (shown here as 4:54). Playlist transport bar 2602 may include position indication region 2610 and asset regions 2622, 2624, and 2626.

Position indication region 2610 may provide a visual indicator of the playback position and may include position needle 2612 and information region 2614. Position needle 2612 may be a graphical object (e.g., a vertical bar) overlaying a portion of one of the asset regions. As shown in FIG. 26, position needle 2612 is at the beginning of asset region 2622, and in this particular embodiment, is also shown at the beginning of the playlist. As a particular asset is played back, position indication region 2610 may advance, from left-to-right, through the asset region corresponding to that asset, and as multiple assets are played back from the playlist, position indication region 2610 may advance through one asset region and then advance through the next.

Information region 2614 may display time information indicating, for example, how much time has elapsed in a currently playing asset, how much playback time is remaining in the currently playing asset, how much time has elapsed in playback of the playlist, how much playback time is remaining in the playlist, or any combination thereof. Note that the elapsed time is meant to represent the time it takes for normal speed, uninterrupted, playback of assets in the playlist. Thus, if a user fast-forwards through or skips an asset, the time displayed in information region 2614 is indicative of the time it would have taken to reach the new playback position at a normal uninterrupted speed. However, it will be appreciated that, in an alternative embodiment to the foregoing, the actual time spent accessing (e.g., viewing) assets in the playlist may be displayed. Information region 2614 also includes the playback action indicator, shown here as a play indicator. The playback action indicator may change to a pause indicator while the playback of the playlist is paused, to a reverse play indicator while the playlist is being played in the reverse direction, to a fast-forward indicator while the playlist is being fast-forwarded, and to a rewind indicator while the playlist is being rewound. If desired, different indicators may be used for different speeds of play, reverse play, rewind, and fast-forward.

As playback of an asset progresses, both position needle 2612 and information region 2614 may move concomitantly. This is illustrated in FIG. 27 in which both position needle 2712 and information region 2714 are shown connected together even though two hours and fifty-six minutes of programming has played back. It will be appreciated that in other embodiments the information region may remain in a fixed location (e.g., the far left-hand side of the transport bar), while the position needle advances in connection with playback of the programming in the playlist. In other embodiments, the position needle and information region may remain stationary, while the asset regions move to the left as playback progresses.

Referring now back to FIG. 26, each of asset regions 2622, 2624, and 2626 may correspond to an asset (e.g., program) in a playlist (e.g., Jane's Playlist). For example, asset region 2622 may correspond to a first asset (e.g., Lost, Episode 2, which is shown being played back on screen 2600) in the playlist. Asset region 2624 may correspond to the next asset (e.g., Men In Black) in the playlist to be played back, and asset region 2626 may correspond to the asset following the asset corresponding to asset region 2624.

A number of different approaches may be taken with respect to the display of the asset regions. The asset regions may be displayed in a rectangular fashion, where the regions are attached end-to-end, and where the regions are clearly delineated to clearly indicate where one asset region ends and another begins. Moreover, the regions may exhibit certain attributes (e.g., colors or highlighting) to further distinguish one region from another. For example, the region currently being played back may be colored different than the other regions. As another example, the regions may be colored to represent the theme or genre of the asset. It is understood that many various ways of presenting the regions may be implemented and that such presentation techniques are largely a matter of design choice. Therefore, various display techniques (e.g., asset region shapes, coloring, and highlighting, etc.) not specifically mentioned herein may be applied to the playlist transport bar.

FIG. 26 is merely an illustrative of such a display screen including a playlist transport control bar. Other suitable arrangements may be used. For example, information such as asset title, channel, any other suitable programming-related information, advertisements, logos, or any combination thereof may be displayed within or in association with the playlist transport bar.

Any number of different approaches may be practiced in determining the number of asset regions displayed in the playlist transport bar at a given time and the space occupied by each displayed asset region. FIG. 28 shows an illustrative playlist transport bar 2802 that displays an asset region for each asset in the playlist. This approach ensures that playlist transport bar 2802 includes regions representative of the entire playlist. Thus, when a user views playlist transport bar 2802, the user can quickly determine how far along he is in the playback of the playlist.

If the playlist includes, for example, five assets, the playlist transport bar displays five asset regions corresponding to those five assets. The interactive media guidance application may allocate an appropriate size for each asset region, while optionally taking into account factors such as the run-length of each asset, in order to simultaneously display regions for each asset in the playlist. As shown, playlist transport bar 2802 includes five regions, regions 2821, 2822, 2823, 2824, and 2825, each of which are apportioned space based on their relative lengths. For example, asset regions 2822, 2823, and 2825 may represent half-hour shows, asset region 2821 may represent an hour show, and region 2824 may represent a two-hour show.

FIG. 29 shows an illustrative playlist transport bar 2902 in which the number of regions displayed are limited in number so as to not saturate transport bar 2902 with regions corresponding to all the potential assets of a playlist, thereby potentially making it difficult for users to quickly and easily differentiate different regions. In this approach a relatively small number of regions (e.g., 2-6) may be displayed in the playlist transport bar. This way, if the playlist includes a large number of assets, playlist transport bar 2902 may display just a few regions such as, for example, the regions centered around the region currently being played back.

Moreover, by limiting the number of regions displayed in playlist transport bar 2902 at any given time, this allows the interactive media guidance application to allocate an appropriate predetermined minimum amount of space to each displayed region. In FIG. 29, playlist transport bar 2902 corresponds to a playlist having nine hours and forty-five minutes of programming, but is only able to display, for example, four hours of programming at any given time. For example, regions 2921 and 2923 may represent hour long programs and region 2922 may represent a two hour long program. As can be seen, the spacing allotted to each region accurately reflects the length of a particular asset with respect to the other shown assets. That is, region 2922 (a two hour asset) occupies approximately twice the space as region 2921 (an hour long asset).

The interactive media guidance application may position the currently played back region 2922 in the center of playlist transport bar and place other regions or portions thereof on either side of the currently played region. In FIG. 29, position indication region 2910 is positioned at region 2922, indicating that the asset corresponding to region 2922 is being played back. Because region 2922 is the current region, region 2921 may be placed before it, and region 2923 may be placed after it. When position indication region 2910 advances to region 2923, the interactive media guidance application may position region 2923 in the center of playlist transport bar 2902, resulting in playlist transport bar 2904 of FIG. 30. FIG. 30 shows region 2923 positioned near the center, with a portion of region 2922 located left of region 2923 and regions 2924 and 2925 located right of region 2923. As shown with region 2922, a region at the start or end of the display may be truncated, showing only a portion of its allocated length. In some embodiments, a truncated asset region may be displayed differently than a whole asset region, for example with a ragged edge or an arrowhead-shaped end.

As an alternative to the embodiment discussed in connection with FIGS. 29 and 30, the playlist transport bar may only be able to display up to a predetermined number of hours of programming. Thus, if the number of hours of programming in the playlist exceeds the number of hours that can be displayed at any given time, the playlist transport bar may display only regions or portions thereof totaling the number of hours that can be displayed at any give time. In embodiments in which the entire playlist length is not shown on screen, an indicator may be shown at the start and/or end of the playlist transport bar to inform the user that additional assets are available. For example, an arrow or an ellipsis may be used to indicate additional assets prior to or subsequent to the displayed asset regions.

FIG. 31 shows a playlist transport bar 3102 that may be displayed when the interactive media guidance application executes a command that affects playback of an asset in the playlist such as fast-forward, rewind, skip asset, replay asset, or any other function which may or may not be directly supported by a remote device (e.g., remote control). For example, when a user initiates a fast-forward command through an asset, playlist transport toolbar 3102 may be displayed for at least the duration of the fast-forward. While fast-forwarding, position indication region 3110 may be shown rapidly progressing from left-to-right and the time displayed in information region 3114 may be shown elapsing at a fast-forwarded pace. In addition, information region 3114 may display a conventional fast-forward symbol to signify to the user that a fast forward command is being implemented. It will be appreciated that information region 3114 may indicate a current action status (e.g., play, rewind, fast-forward, pause, or any other suitable mode) in the form of an icon, as illustrated in FIG. 31, text, or any other suitable form.

FIGS. 32, 33, 34A-B, 35A-B, and 36 show several illustrative playlist transport bars in which a user may navigate a highlight region within the playlist transport bar, and, if desired, cause a particular action to occur in accordance with embodiments of the invention. Referring now to FIG. 32, the user may navigate a highlight region 3218 (currently highlighting asset region 3221) to various elements of transport bar 3202. For example, a user may navigate highlight region 3218 to any one of asset regions 3221, 3222, 3223, or, in some embodiments (such as an embodiment in which a limited number of regions can be displayed), to regions not currently displayed. The user may navigate highlight region 3218 to position indication region 3210 or playlist name 3230. The interactive media guidance application may execute a predetermined function in response to a user navigating an element in the playlist transport bar or user selection of a highlighted element. For example, the interactive media guidance application may display an information overlay 3240 containing information related to the asset corresponding to asset region 3221 when the user highlights asset region 3221. If the user highlights an asset region and selects the asset, for example by pressing a Select key on the remote control, the interactive media guidance application may immediate commence playback of the selected asset.

FIG. 33 shows an illustrative playlist transport bar 3302 in which a highlight region 3318 has been navigated to playlist name 3330. As shown in FIG. 33, after the user navigates a highlight region to or selects playlist name 3330, several names of playlists may be displayed. These playlists may include playlists previously created by a user or playlists provided by a system operator. Displaying the available playlists gives the user the option to load in a different playlist by navigating to and selecting a particular playlists. When a new playlist is selected, the user may be prompted with a confirmation screen, and upon confirmation, the interactive media guidance application may commence playback of the selected playlist and display a playlist transport bar tailored to the selected playlist.

FIGS. 34A-B show before and after screen shots, respectively, illustrating how a user may manually drag and drop a position indication region to any desired location in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. FIG. 34A shows position needle 3412 highlighted with highlight region 3418. Note that information region 3414 specifies a time of forty-five minutes. When the user selects the highlighted position needle, the interactive television program guide may enter a “drag and place mode” that permits the user to manually move position indication region 3410 to another location (e.g., another region) using, for example, pressing buttons (e.g., left and right cursor buttons) on a remote device. FIG. 34B shows that the user moved position indication region 3410 back five minutes (as indicated by information region 3414) with respect to the location of position indication region 3410 in FIG. 34A.

When the user has placed position indication region 3410 in a desired location, the user may exit the drag and place mode in any number of different ways. For example, the user may deselect position indication region 3410 by pressing a particular button (e.g., an exit button or a play button or a select button) or by navigating away from position indication region 3410. Note that as position indication region 3402 is moved, the time information may change accordingly, and the displayed name of assets in playlist may change as needle position 3412 is positioned at different regions. When the new playback position is selected, the interactive media guidance application may commence playback at the newly selection asset and time.

FIGS. 35A-B show before and after screen shots, respectively, illustrating how a user may use a “skip to next region” function to move the location of position indication region 3510 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The “skip to next region” function may advance position indication region 3510 to the beginning of an adjacent asset region. The skip to next region function may be invoked when position needle 3512 is selected, as shown in FIG. 35A. When the user presses a button (e.g., up/down arrow buttons, next/previous page buttons, or dedicated next/previous buttons) on a remote device, position indication region may skip to the next region.

FIG. 35B illustrates the result of the skip function when the user presses, for example, a right arrow button once. As shown, position indication region skips from region 3521 to the beginning of region 3522. If the user presses the right arrow button again, position indication region may skip to the beginning of region 3523.

If the user presses the left arrow button, position indication region 3510 may either advance to the beginning of the region in which position indication region 3510 is currently overlaying or to the beginning of the region adjacent to the region in which position indication region 3510 is currently overlaying. As an alternative embodiment, position indication region 3510 may advance to the beginning of a previous region only if position indication region 3510 is at the beginning of the region it is currently positioned at.

FIG. 36 shows an illustrative screen shot of playlist transport bar 3602 that may be displayed when a user navigates a highlight region to, for example, information region 3614 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, when information region 3614 is highlighted with highlight region 3618, playlist options menu 3640 may be displayed. Playlist options menu 3640 may provide a user with an opportunity to execute one of many different functions with respect to the asset associated with the region currently indicated by position indication region 3610, or with respect to the current position in that asset. The user may execute one of these functions by navigating highlight region to a desired function and select a pre-determined button on a remote device.

The functions included in playlist options menu 3640 may provide added flexibility in manipulating playback of assets in the playlist, to edit the playlist, or to access information on various assets in the playlist. For example, a user may select delete asset 3641 to delete an asset from the playlist, select skip asset 3642 to skip playback of the asset, select repeat asset 3643 to repeat play of the asset, or select information for this asset 3644 to view additional information on the asset. In addition, play this asset next 3645 may be selected to have this asset play next, regardless of the order it appears in the playlist. Selection of play this asset 3645 may result in a re-ordering of the playlist. Furthermore, play this asset now 3646 may be selected to cause this asset to begin substantially immediate playback. Note that the functions included in playlist options menu 3640 are largely a matter of design choice and are not limited to the specific examples discussed herein. More detailed information and additional examples of functions that may be included in a playlist options menu may be found in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/324,191, filed Dec. 29, 2005, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. Examples of other functions that may be accessed from such a menu include setting a mark at the current location in the current asset that can be jumped to easily at a later time, jumping to a previously selected marked location; selecting a specific asset to begin playing, selecting a specific playback offset in the current asset at which to begin playback, and jumping forward or backwards in the playlist by a user-specified number of seconds or minutes.

Note, playlist options menu 3640 may be displayed or accessed in ways other than that mentioned herein. For example, a remote device may include a button which when pressed may cause playlist options menu 3640 to be displayed, regardless of whether a highlight region has been navigated to information region 3614. In another approach, playlist options menu 3640 may be displayed only after the user selects highlighted information region 3614 using, for example a remote device.

FIG. 37 is a flow chart illustrating the display of a playlist transport bar in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. Beginning at step 3702, a playlist is provided. This playlist may be one of many playlists available which the interactive media guidance application may use for displaying a playlist transport bar according to the invention. At step 3704, the interactive media guidance application may display a playlist transport bar for the playlist. The playlist transport bar may include asset regions that correspond to assets in the playlist and a position indication region to provide an indication of a playback position within the playlist. When the playlist transport bar is displayed, several different actions may be taken. For example, the position indication region may be moved (e.g., manually by a user) to a new position in the playlist transport bar. Another example action may include navigating a highlight region to access additional information relating to an asset or other features available in connection with the playlist transport bar (e.g., playlist options menu of FIG. 36).

Section V. VOD Information Screen

In some embodiments, the interactive television application (e.g., IPG), may provide users with access to playlist and bookmark features from a VOD program information screen. FIGS. 38 and 39 show illustrative VOD information screens that may be provided in response to, for example, a user selecting a VOD program listing from a VOD program listings display.

In FIG. 38, the selected program is a free VOD program and an illustrative playlist icon is highlighted. In this embodiment, only free VOD programs may be added to playlists. In other embodiments, non-free VOD programs and other types of programs may be added to playlists.

In FIG. 39, the selected program is a non-free VOD program and an illustrative bookmark icon is highlighted. In other embodiments, free VOD programs and other types of programs may be bookmarked.

In response to a user selecting the playlist icon of FIG. 38, the interactive television application may present an overlay allowing a user to select a playlist to which the program will be added, such as the Select A Playlist Overlay of FIG. 11 for example. If no playlists are set, the interactive television application may instead present an overlay that indicates no playlists are set, such as the Illustrative No Playlists Set Overlay of FIG. 3 for example.

In response to a user selecting the bookmark icon of FIG. 39, the interactive television application may present an overlay allowing the user to confirm the marking of the program, such as the Bookmark a Program Confirmation Overlay of FIG. 21.

The above described embodiments of the present invention are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation, and the present invention is limited only by the claims which follow.

Claims (38)

displaying a playlist transport bar for a playlist, the playlist transport bar comprising:

a plurality of asset regions, each asset region corresponding to an asset in the playlist; and

a position indication region to provide an indication of both a first playback position within the playlist and a second playback position within a first asset in the playlist, the position indication region comprising a playback information region that includes an interactive option selectable by a user, wherein the interactive option, when selected by the user displays a playlist options menu, and textual information about the first asset in the playlist and textual information relative to other assets in the playlist, wherein the textual information provided in the playback information region is different from the indication provided by the position indication region, and wherein, during playback, the playback information region moves with the position indication region, at a same rate as the position indication region, in accordance with the playback position toward an asset that sequentially follows the first asset; and

moving, in response to a user input, the position indication region to a third playback position within the playlist and a fourth playback position within a second asset in the playlist, wherein the third and fourth playback positions are selected by the user input as anywhere within the playlist and anywhere within the second asset in the playlist.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback information region displays an elapsed playback time of the playlist.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback information region displays an elapsed playback time of one of the assets.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

moving the position indication region to another position in the playlist transport bar; and

displaying the position indication region while it is being moved.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising playing back an asset in the playlist from the position that the position indication region was moved to.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein moving comprises fast-forwarding or rewinding the position indication region.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a command to select the position indication region; and

moving the selected position indication region to another location in the playlist.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback information region displays a name of the playlist.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback information region displays a name of an asset corresponding to the location of the position indication.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the information relative to other assets in the playlist includes total playtime of all assets in the playlist.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of asset regions displayed in the playlist transport bar include an asset region for each asset in the playlist.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the playlist transport bar displays a portion of a total playtime of all assets in the playlist and wherein the playlist transport bar includes asset regions for at least two assets in the playlist.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the displayed asset regions is representative of the run-length of the asset corresponding to the displayed asset region.

14. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing a user to load a different playlist while accessing the playlist transport bar.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

allowing a user to modify the playlist while accessing the playlist transport bar.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the playlist transport is displayed as an overlay that overlays a portion of a currently played asset.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive media guidance application is an interactive television program guide.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive media guidance application is an online television program guide.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the interactive media guidance application is a Website.

20. A system for displaying a playlist transport bar, the system comprising:

a processor operative to:

display a playlist transport bar, transport bar comprising:

a plurality of asset regions, each of which corresponds to an asset in a playlist;

and a position indication region to provide an indication of both a first playback position within the playlist and a second playback position within a first asset in the playlist, the position indication region comprising a playback information region that includes an interactive option selectable by a user, wherein the interactive option, when selected by the user displays a playlist options menu, and textual information about the first asset in the playlist and textual information relative to other assets in the playlist, wherein the textual information provided in the playback information region is different from the indication provided by the position indication region, and wherein, during playback, the playback information region moves with the position indication region, at a same rate as the position indication region, in accordance with the playback position toward an asset that sequentially follows the first asset; and

move, in response to a user input, the position indication region to a third playback position within the playlist and a fourth playback position within a second asset in the playlist, wherein the third and fourth playback positions are selected by the user input as anywhere within the playlist and anywhere within the second asset in the playlist.

21. A method for displaying a playlist transport bar, comprising:

displaying at least two asset regions in a playlist transport bar, each asset region corresponding to an asset of a playlist;

displaying a position indication region in the playlist transport bar to provide an indication of both a first playback position within the playlist and a second playback position within a first asset in the playlist, the position indication region comprising a playback information region that includes an interactive option selectable by a user, wherein the interactive option, when selected by the user displays a playlist options menu, and textual information about the first asset and that allows access to information relating to other assets in the playlist, wherein the textual information provided in the playback information region is different from the indication provided by the position indication region, and wherein, during playback, the playback information region moves with the position indication region, at a same rate as the position indication region, in accordance with the playback position toward an asset that sequentially follows the first asset; and

moving, in response to a user input, the position indication region to a third playback position within the playlist and a fourth playback position within a second asset in the playlist, wherein the third and fourth playback positions are selected by the user input as anywhere within the playlist and anywhere within the second asset in the playlist.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein information about a particular asset is displayed and updated automatically in the position indication region without user input.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the moving comprises sliding the position indication region to the third playback position within the playlist.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein, in response the user input, the position indication region provides indication of both the third playback position within the playlist and the fourth playback position within the second asset in the playlist.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the first asset is different from the second asset.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the first asset is the same as the second asset.

27. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

displaying a playlist window adjacent a first of the asset regions in the playlist transport bar, wherein:

the playlist window provides information about a third asset in the playlist corresponding to the first asset region and information relative to other assets in the playlist, and

the information includes playback position of the third asset;

moving the playlist window in accordance with the playback position towards a second of the asset regions in the playlist transport bar corresponding to a fourth asset, wherein the fourth asset sequentially follows the third asset in the playlist; and

changing the information provided in the playlist window automatically to provide information about the fourth asset when the playlist window is adjacent the second asset region.

28. The system of claim 20, wherein information about a particular asset is displayed and updated automatically in the position indication region without user input.

29. The system of claim 20, wherein the moving comprises sliding the position indication region to the third playback position within the playlist.

30. The system of claim 20, wherein, in response the user input, the position indication region provides indication of both the third playback position within the playlist and the fourth playback position within the second asset in the playlist.

31. The system of claim 20, wherein the first asset is different from the second asset.

32. The system of claim 20, wherein the first asset is the same as the second asset.

33. The system of claim 20, wherein the system is further operative to:

display a playlist window adjacent a first of the asset regions in the playlist transport bar, wherein:

the playlist window provides information about a third asset in the playlist corresponding to the first asset region and information relative to other assets in the playlist, and

the information includes playback position of the third asset;

move the playlist window in accordance with the playback position towards a second of the asset regions in the playlist transport bar corresponding to a fourth asset, wherein the fourth asset sequentially follows the third asset in the playlist; and

change the information provided in the playlist window automatically to provide information about the fourth asset when the playlist window is adjacent the second asset region.

34. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback information region includes an option to retrieve information relating to one of the other assets in the playlist.

35. The method of claim 1, wherein the playback information region occupies an area of a display, wherein the area comprises a width along an axis of the playlist transport bar larger than a width of the position indication region, and wherein the area occupied by the playback information region in the display moves, along the axis of the playlist transport bar, with the position indication region in accordance with the playback position.

36. The method of claim 1, wherein the playlist options menu provides an option with respect to an asset being played back.

37. The system of claim 20, wherein the playlist options menu provides an option with respect to an asset being played back.

38. The method of claim 21, wherein the playlist options menu provides an option with respect to an asset being played back.

US113668632005-03-022006-03-02Playlists and bookmarks in an interactive media guidance application system
Active2027-10-12US8489990B2
(en)